So You Call Yourself A Man. Carl Weber

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      I kissed her neck, whispering in her ear, “You okay? Do you want me to go down on you or anything?”

      “No, baby. I’m fine just like this. All I want you to do is hold me.” I did as I was told and she snuggled her backside against me. A few seconds later, I could hear her snoring lightly.

      I loved Cathy more than anything in the world. Sure, we had our problems over the years like most couples. Hell, I even thought we were gonna divorce a few years ago, but we worked it out and things had never been better as far as I was concerned. I couldn’t see myself with any other woman. I’d loved her since the day we met in our junior year at Virginia State University. She was my soul mate, and I’d do anything and everything to keep her and my boys safe and out of harm’s way. I kissed her neck again, then dozed off to sleep.

      I couldn’t have been asleep more than five or ten minutes before my cell phone rang. Instinctively, I reached over and picked it up from my night table, glancing at the caller ID before hitting the talk button. The screen read UNAVAILABLE, and my eyes wandered to the clock radio on my night table. One twenty-one a.m. Who the hell is calling me at this time of night? Then it hit me. There was only one person who would call me at this time from an unavailable number—my best friend, Sonny Harrison. Sonny always used calling cards, so his home number never showed up on my caller ID. His wife and I didn’t get along too tough, so he probably waited until she was asleep before picking up the phone to call. He was flying in from Seattle sometime tomorrow to look for a job, and hopefully he was going to stay long enough to attend Brent’s wedding. Brent, the third friend in our tight circle, was getting married in two weeks, and he and I were supposed to pick Sonny up at the airport. Sonny was probably calling to let me know what time his flight would arrive.

      “Hello?”

      “James?” It wasn’t Sonny. It was a woman, a familiar voice, but in my tired state, I just couldn’t make out the voice. “James?” the woman asked again.

      “Yeah, who is this?”

      “Michelle.”

      The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and every muscle in my body tightened. I hadn’t heard Michelle’s voice in years. Why the hell was she calling me, especially at this time of night? I could feel Cathy start to stir next to me, and fear ran through my body. I immediately cupped the phone and rolled over on my right side, away from my wife.

      I’d met Michelle a few years back, during the time Cathy and I were having our marital problems and contemplating divorce. Michelle was living with her mother. Their house was a daily stop on my old UPS route. Her mother was addicted to the Home Shopping Network, and was constantly ordering nonsense she didn’t need. Looking back at things, I wished I had never met her, but in all honesty, she filled a void in my life at a very unhappy time. She was exactly what I needed to realize that what I had at home was worth fighting for.

      Funny thing is, in the beginning, I never even thought about messing with Michelle. She was just the woman who answered the door when I dropped off her mother’s packages. I mean, she was nice enough and had a decent body, but she wasn’t gonna win any beauty contests with those rollers and that sweatsuit she wore when she answered the door every morning. As time went on, however, her appearance started to change. At first it was subtle; the scarf and rollers she usually wore to the door had disappeared, and her hair was now combed in various styles. Then one morning she surprised me by answering the door wearing makeup. And if that wasn’t enough, I knew something was definitely up when she stopped wearing the beat-up old gray sweatsuit and started to answer the door wearing a negligee with a sheer robe. Being a flirtatious guy, I gave her a few compliments on her improved appearance. Yeah, I know I was a married man headed down the road to disaster, but boys will be boys, and I was just seeking some much-needed attention that I wasn’t getting at home.

      I really didn’t think anything would start between me and Michelle. That changed, though, when she was more than a little receptive to my flirtation and started giving it back even more aggressively. We played this little back-and-forth game over the next couple of weeks. I don’t have to tell you what happened after that. Let’s just say it happened every day for six months, even when I didn’t have any packages to deliver to her house. Now that I think back on it, I don’t think I’d ever been so happy to go to work in my entire life.

      “Michelle, why are you calling me at this time of night?” I was whispering but my voice was cold and serious.

      “Well, if you had answered when I called you earlier, we wouldn’t be going through this now. I been blowing up your phone since five o’clock this afternoon, and it just keeps sending me to your voice mail. By the way, your box is full. Haven’t you checked your messages?”

      “No, I haven’t. I’ve been busy, spending time with my wife.” I glanced at Cathy to see if I was talking too loud. She seemed to still be asleep.

      “You don’t have to get nasty with me, James. I know you’re married, remember? You act like she’s right next to you or something.”

      “Ahhh, yeah, where else would she be at this time of night?” I couldn’t resist the sarcasm. “Now look, it’s late. And I don’t do booty calls anymore. So please don’t call me again, okay?”

      “Don’t you hang up this phone, James Robinson!” she demanded. “We need to talk now. And I really don’t care if your wife is there or not. This is important.”

      I didn’t like her attitude. I was thinking about hanging up. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that Michelle was stubborn and would probably call back. One call at 1:30 in the morning Cathy might ignore or sleep through, but a second call would have her radar up like she was NASA waiting for the space shuttle to land. “Look, I don’t have time for this.”

      “Well, make time, dammit. Unless you want me to show up at your doorstep with your son.”

      If she didn’t have my attention before, she sure as hell had it now. I swear I could feel my heart stop. “Hold on a sec.” I cupped my hand over the phone then swung my feet off the bed to sit up. Cathy turned toward me.

      “Baby, who’s that on the phone?” She was still half-asleep.

      I turned toward her and forced a smile. “Ah, it’s just Sonny. I’ve gotta write down his flight information. I’ll be right back.”

      “Aw’ight. Tell ’im I said hi.” She rolled back over, pulling the covers around her neck. I left the room, heading downstairs as quickly as possible. When I reached the family room, I turned on the television for background noise and brought the phone to my ear.

      “What the hell is this about, Michelle? You told me the baby wasn’t mine.” Now that I was not within earshot of Cathy, I had a real attitude.

      There was a hesitation on the line.

      “I know that, James, but I was wrong.” There was a strange tone to her voice, not the attitude I expected. It was more like exhaustion. If I didn’t know better, I might have thought she didn’t want to be having this conversation with me. But I did know better, and I was sure Michelle was up to something.

      “What do you mean you was wrong? Why you trying to play me, Michelle? You know that baby ain’t mine. You told me yourself, he looks just like your boyfriend. He don’t look nothin’ like me.”

      “Ain’t nobody trying to play you, James. And his looks ain’t got nothin’ to do with who his daddy is. But trust me, he does СКАЧАТЬ