No More Tears In The End

“No.”

“My name is Nick Simmons. Howard Owens works for me.”

“I was goin’ pay him his money. I just need a little more time.”

I looked at Rain. She stepped up quickly and punched Watson in the mouth. “What I say about talkin’, huh? You don’t say a muthafuckin’ thing, unless I muthafuckin’ tell you to!” she said and hit him again.

“You had your chance to pay Howard. You had your chance to pay the two gentlemen I sent to talk to you last week, but you ducked out on them and then you sent that asshole to rough-up Howard’s brother and take a shot at him. That’s why he’s layin’ there dead now. When you shoot, shoot to kill not scare!” I said to the dead man.

“You don’t owe that money to Howard anymore. Now you owe me. So here’s what’s gonna happen. I own ten percent of your business. Tomorrow morning I’m gonna send the same two men around to your office at ten o’clock and you’re gonna be there to meet them. You’re gonna give them the money you owe, including the interest and they’re gonna give you some papers to sign. Sign them. The next morning another man will be there. He is my representative, he’ll explain how things are gonna work. The good news is you still run the company, but you don’t do shit unless you talk to him first. Do we have a deal or do I have to kill your wife?”

Watson didn’t answer at first; he just looked at Rain. Mrs. Watson nudged her husband. Rain laughed a little and nodded her head. “We have a deal,” Watson said and dropped his head.

“Smart man. Do what I say and you’ll live a lot longer and you’ll make a lot more money,” I said and got up. “By the way, if you even think about callin’ the cops and sayin’ anything about our deal, I promise you that you will get to watch me kill your wife and those two kids, before I cut your head off. Do we have an understanding?”

Watson looked at Rain again for permission to speak. When she nodded her head, Watson said, “Yes, I understand.”

We left the Watson’s tied up with a dead body in the middle of their living room floor. Once we got back to the car and drove away, Rain turned to me.

“Let’s get a room and fuck.”

Chapter 31

I rolled out of bed and quickly got it the shower. When I was finished I got dressed. While I put my clothes on, I looked at Rain lying naked on the bed.

“I gotta go,” I said and ran my hand along her hip and down her thigh.

“You got a woman, don’t you?” Rain asked without looking up.

“Yes.”

“Go handle your business.” Rain rolled over on her back, spread her legs, and made it just that much harder for me to leave. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“You will,” I said and rushed out of there.

It was after two in the morning when I unlocked the door to Wanda’s house. On the way there, I ran through several scenarios in my mind. Trying to prepare my answers to whatever questions Wanda was going to throw at me.

The reason men get caught cheating is that they don’t have their story straight and can’t remember what story they told when they did, so the story always changes. Men think of their excuse on the way

home, like I had done.

It’s different with a woman. Before a woman leaves the house, she has her story down-pat, her alibi in place, and her answers ready for the few questions we men do ask. And her story never changes. No matter how many holes it may have, that’s her story and she’ll stick to it, sometimes even when there is evidence to the contrary.

Wanda was asleep when I slipped into the bedroom. I looked at her lying there on her side, in a black silk gown and then thought about Rain lying naked in almost the same position. I got undressed quietly and even though I had just taken one, I got in the shower. I always took a shower before I got in bed with Wanda, and that night wasn’t the night I was going to break that tradition.

I stood in the shower and lathered up from head to toe to get the smell and feel of motel soap off of me. As the water rolled off my body, I gave some thought to the fact that this was the first time I had been with another woman since Wanda and I had been together.

Part of that was Wanda, being insanely jealous, went out of her way to keep women away from me. But the other part was that I was, and I guess still am, happy with the relationship and the sex we have. So if that’s the case, why did I spend the last two nights fuckin’ Rain? And why was I thinkin’ about fuckin’ her fine young-ass again tomorrow?

I didn’t have an answer, so I got out of the shower.

When I slid in between the sheets, Wanda began to stir. “Hi, babe,” Wanda said quietly and rolled closer to me.

“Hi. Sorry I woke you.”

“That’s all right. I would have been mad if you didn’t,” Wanda said and started kissing me.

While we made love, thoughts and images of Rain popped in my mind, as they did with Wanda while I was inside Rain. But instead of forcing them out of my mind, I focused on them.