The Man in 3B (10 page)

“Hey, baby, you’re home. Happy birthday,” she said in a singsong voice.

“Birthday? It’s not my birthday. You know damn well my birthday was last week,” I reminded her.

“I know that, silly.”

She walked toward me with a mischievous grin on her face, her hands still behind her back. She was trying her best to walk seductively, but I was repulsed nonetheless. I mean, whose idea was it to make lingerie in plus sizes? Who honestly thought anything that big could be sexy? A big woman can be cute, charming, or even precious, but sexy ain’t nowhere on that list.

“I know your actual birthday has come and gone.” Now she was right up on me, all up in my face. I had to give her credit; she did smell good, but that sure didn’t mean I was turned on.

She pulled back and winked. She was still hiding something behind her back, and from the crazy look in her eyes, I was starting to think she was about to pull out a knife and stab me.

“But it’s you who still needs to come. I never gave you your birthday present…,” she said with what she probably thought was a sexy voice. To me, it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. “I know you’ve been wondering when you were gonna get your birthday blow job. Well, honey, the time is now… and when I get finished, you can reciprocate if you want to.”

I know there are plenty of men out there who would be dropping their pants the second their wives offered to give them head. Hell, I would have been one of those men a few years ago, because in that area, Connie truly did have skills. But great oral skills or not, I couldn’t do it anymore. I just couldn’t. I couldn’t pretend that I wasn’t repulsed by the idea of making love to her, let alone reciprocating oral sex as she’d suggested. I couldn’t continue to fake it.

Now, before you go thinking I’m the biggest asshole on earth, let me explain. I wasn’t only thinking about myself. Connie deserved better too. I was sure there was a man out there who would love every pound of her—one of those chubby chasers or something. Unfortunately, I wasn’t that man. Therefore, I was not the man for Connie. And if I truly loved her once like I claimed to, it was time I told her exactly how I felt and gave her the opportunity to move on with her life.

“Connie, we need to talk,” I said with a sigh.

“Oh, we’re going to talk all right, but it’s going to be my lips doing all the talking, if you know what I mean.” That’s when she finally pulled her hands from behind her back, revealing a can of whipped cream. “And I’ve got a little extra something to say.” Before I could respond, she grabbed me by the hand and led me over to the couch. “Sit!” She was trying her best to sound authoritative, like a plus-sized dominatrix. Still not sexy. Still not happening.

“Connie, please. Seriously, there’s something I need to—”

“I said sit!” she demanded, pressing her hand up against my chest, forcing me to fall back on the couch. I threw my head back in exasperation, but I think she mistook it for ecstasy, because she dropped to her knees and began to pull off my sweatpants and boxers. I reached to pull my pants back up, but she actually slapped my hand.

“Stop it, Avery.” She took hold of my manhood and put it in her mouth.

Okay, I’m not gonna lie. It felt good. It felt damn good, and there was no stopping her now. Besides, it was a birthday blow job, which meant it was all about her pleasing me. Therefore, I didn’t have to reciprocate, did I?

I guess I’d forgotten how good she was, because I was getting close to that release point faster than I would have expected. It was hard to believe she was making me feel that good with her mouth. A couple of times, I had to look down just to make sure it was her mouth making me feel that way. But that’s when I’d almost go limp, spotting a bulge of fat or something. Then I’d throw my head back and remind myself,
Don’t look at her body; just look at her face. Matter of fact, don’t look at anything. Just lay back and enjoy the moment.

She worked her tongue like a snake, every now and then squirting the whipped cream on me and sucking it off. She did this until finally I jerked, twitched, and damn near had a seizure as I came.

With my head still thrown back and eyes closed, I sensed her standing up, her huge shadow over me. I opened my eyes to see her posing with a victorious look on her face. She was completely naked.

“Now, what was it you wanted to tell me?”

I took a deep breath and announced, “Connie, I want a divorce.”

It was just another typical day with me sitting on the front stoop, participating in my favorite activity—running my mouth with the girls about this and that going on in the neighborhood. There was nothing I loved more than gossiping with them, except, of course, for getting busy with Ben. So when he walked by and gave me the signal to meet him upstairs at his apartment, I didn’t waste any time making an excuse to leave the girls and heading up for my weekly lesson in “fire prevention.” Ben’s a damn good fireman, if you ask me, and for the past few years, he’d been putting out my fire on the regular. I was sure none of the ladies believed me when I said I was going to make dinner for my family, but I really didn’t give a damn what they thought. All I cared about was that Ben was waiting for me with his extra-long fire hose.

I had my hand raised to knock on Ben’s door when it flew open.

“Oh, hi, Little Ben,” I said in a nice tone. I was determined to be extra nice to my lover’s son even though he always acted stank toward me.

“It’s Benny.” He rolled his eyes, throwing his backpack over his shoulder. “Looks like I have perfect timing. I’m leaving and you’re coming.” He yelled into the apartment, “Pop, you got company. I’m out.”

He brushed by me, slightly bumping my shoulder. If he was anyone else, I would have given him a piece of my mind, but I was not about to mess up the good thing I had going with my man just because his son was a disrespectful little shit.

I entered the apartment to find Ben sitting on the couch. I had to stop and stare. For a man in his midforties, Ben kept himself in remarkable shape, and his stamina was like no other man I’d ever been with. Even more importantly, Ben appreciated a more seasoned woman like myself, which was way more than I could say for Charles, my husband of seventeen years. Ben made me feel like a woman should feel, special and appreciated. If I had to do it all over again, he was the one I’d marry.

Believe it or not, I would have preferred to honor my vows rather than have an affair, but Charles didn’t love me. Charles loved some twenty-five-year-old big-tittie secretary named Brenda. That cradle-robbing son of a bitch had been screwing her ever since she started working with him five years ago. When I found out about her, I asked him to stop—hell, I begged him to stop—but he didn’t or wouldn’t. Now he spent most of his time with her, sneaking in the house after midnight on the regular. Rumor was that they had a baby together. Can you believe that as nosy as I am, I’d never looked into it to verify if there really was a child? I decided it wouldn’t do me any good to know the truth. I was determined to stay in the marriage for the sake of my own children. They loved their father, so the two of us played nice for the public. He even gave me a kiss every morning on the stoop to keep up appearances for the ladies—right before he went to work to be with his bitch. Most days, my time spent with Ben was the only happiness I felt.

“Hey, love, how’s it going?” I asked as I walked over to the couch and sat next to Ben.

“Pretty good.” He wrapped his arms around me in a warm hug. “How are things with you?”

“They were going pretty good—until I went to knock on your door and ran into Benny. You know, I don’t think that son of yours likes me very much. I mean, it’s like he always has an attitude when he sees me.”

“Oh, Benny’s a good kid.”

I rolled my eyes. “He may be a good student and all, but he could stand to learn a few lessons about how to respect his elders,” I said,
coming dangerously close to starting a fight that would ruin my chances of getting any.

Just as I expected, Ben defended his son. “Look, why don’t you try to understand where he’s coming from, Nancy? I’m always preaching to him about making the right choices, and then he sees me making—well, you know…”

“No, I don’t know. Why don’t you say it?” I folded my arms over my chest and twisted up my mouth. I knew exactly what he was trying to say, but if he was going to take his son’s side over mine, I was not about to make it easy for him.

He looked me up and down. “You’re a married woman.”

Okay, yeah, that was true, but what the hell did Benny care? It wasn’t like I was creeping on his father. That kid needed to loosen up a little bit. I’d never seen someone his age so damn uptight.

“I get all that—kind of. But I don’t think it’s any of his business.” I said it as kindly as I could because I was still hoping to get naked within the next ten minutes, so I couldn’t risk agitating Ben.

“Well, actually, it is his business,” Ben corrected me. “He’s my son. I’m his father. He looks up to me, Nancy. And you have to admit I spend a good amount of time with you. Take away the time I spend working, and well, I guess lately there hasn’t been a whole lot of father-son time. Maybe he feels like you’re taking time away from him.” Ben stared off momentarily. “Which probably explains why he’s been spending more and more time with Daryl over in 3B.”

“Do I detect a little jealousy in your tone?” I questioned.

Ben snapped out of his daze. “Who, me? No, it’s just that Benny needs a man he can look up to in his life and maybe I haven’t been there the way I should. He shouldn’t have to go to a neighbor when he has his father.”

Shoot, I could have kicked myself. Why in the world did I bring up this subject? Now Ben was getting all sappy on me, boohooing about his parenting duties. If I didn’t get him out of this funk, there was no way we were having sex.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I said, taking his hand. “At the end of the day, if we want our kids to do the right thing, then we have to set
the right example. But you’re only human, Ben. And you’re a damn good father.”

Ben looked over at me with a gleam in his eyes. I thought it meant we were about to get busy until he jumped up from the couch.

“Do you really believe that—what you just said about setting the right example?”

“Yeah, of course, I mean—”

“Good,” Ben said, cutting me off. “Stay there. I’ll be right back.”

“Ben, what’s wrong? Where are you going?”

He didn’t reply, but I heard him shuffling around in his dresser drawers, and then he reappeared in the living room with something in his hand.

“I’ve been thinking,” he started. “It is time for us to do the right thing, and the right thing is you leaving your husband.”

It took a few seconds for his words to sink in, and by then he’d already opened the box in his hand to show me an engagement ring inside.

“Ben? What is this? What are you talking about?”

“We need to make this right. Yeah, this might have started off as a sex thing, but I think both you and I know it’s deeper than that now. You’ve said it yourself that I’m the most important man in your life. If that’s true, then let’s do it.”

“Ben, I can’t leave my husband,” I said sadly.

“You can’t?” he said, closing the box. “Or you won’t?”

Damn. Now I knew for sure I wasn’t getting any today.

I wished I had something to cover myself up with as I stood there naked and exposed, taking in the vile words my husband had spoken to me.

Had I really heard him right? No, I couldn’t have. I know he didn’t just say, “Connie, I want a divorce.” Especially not after what I’d done for him. This might sound vulgar, but I could still taste him in my mouth, for God’s sake. My jaws were locked in an open position, and it was only partly from the shock of his words. I mean, I’d sucked his dick for ten minutes straight. I knew I’d be feeling the pain in my jaw for days, but my heart? He might as well have cut it out of my chest.

Dear Lord, this couldn’t be happening.

“This is a joke, right?” I asked as I covered myself with the negligee I’d thought would turn him on. “You didn’t say that you want a…” I couldn’t even say the word.

“Yes, I did. I said I want a divor—” I slapped his face hard and then attacked him with a few choice words of my own.

“I heard what you said, you rotten, no good son of a bitch. Don’t you think you could have said that shit before I sucked yo’ little, shriveled-up dick?”

He looked down at his manhood, which was still sticking out. “Hey, my dick is not little.” Leave it to Avery to be more concerned about his dick than the fact that he’d just hurt me to the core. He took it even further, I guess trying to destroy any shred of self-esteem I might have left. “But I guess compared to your big ass it would be.”

His insult hurt, though not as much as you might think. You see,
he’d said things like that a million times before—maybe not verbally, but through his actions. I’d let it slide so many times, made excuses for his cruelty in my head, but no more. My humiliation became a rage coursing through my veins.

“You know what, Avery? So many other sisters would’ve left your miserable ass the second you got that pink slip, but I’ve been here supporting you, allowing you to mope around while I waited on you hand and foot. Yet I put on a few pounds and now you want a divorce? Your love for me couldn’t withstand a few pounds? Really? You’ve got a damn good woman in me, but your shallow ass don’t even realize it.” I can’t describe how angry I was as he sat there on the couch looking crazy. “You should have said that shit a long time ago.”

“I’ve tried. I’ve wanted to, but—” He went to stand up, and I forcefully pushed his ass right back down on that couch. There was no stopping me now.

“But what? You were too busy letting me suck your dick?” The more I thought about how he laid back and let me suck his dick—and swallow!—when he probably knew all along he was going to ask for a divorce… oh, it was on.

“I wanted to tell you a long time ago.”

“Then you should have!” I had so much tension building up inside that I started pacing to release some of it. My only other option would have been to strangle him, and no way was I going to jail for his worthless ass.