Constant Surprises (Wrong Numbers Series) (14 page)

“Roy wants me to stay
here with him and get married.”

Sandy started getting
excited, but Amie cut her off. “He wanted me to think about it because I told
him that I had my restaurant and everything back in Atlanta.”

“But you have him here,
Amie. It’s what you’ve been wanting your whole life. It’s totally different
here than it was when we were growing up. We have a diverse culture now with a
whole mix of families. So it’s not like you’re going to be an outsider again,”
Sandy assured her.

Sandy was right; she
had noticed how even though the town was the generally the same, there had been
gradual changes since her youth. There were people of all races—Black to Asian
to Mexican and everyone in between, enjoying life. She just couldn’t jump the
gun just yet. She had to really think about things before she decided upon
something so big as moving back home and marrying Roy. “I’ve got time to think
about it, Sandy, and whatever decision I make, I’ll let him know first.”

* * * *

Friday came and the
festivities for the reunion started with a football game at the high school.
Everybody who Amie had ever known in Herington was there.

“I can’t believe you’re
a restaurateur, this is so amazing. Do you mind if I come and do an interview
with you at your restaurant next week? I work for Bon
Appetit
magazine and an article would bring more business to your restaurant,” asked
Robin Crosby, who was a cheerleader back in high school. Robin went into her
purse, took out a card, and handed it to Amie. “Just give me a call and let me know
when. I live in Midtown now after moving from New York. I’ll bring a
photographer with me so we can take pictures of your food.”

“That sounds great,
I’ll give you a call on Tuesday if that’s all right,” Amie said with a smile.

“Wonderful, Tuesday is
perfect. I’ll be hearing from you then,” Robin said hugging Amie before
disappearing into the crowd of people.

“I can’t believe this!
Bon
Appetit
magazine, this is amazing,” Amie told
Roy. He smiled and kissed her cheek.

The game ended in
overtime with Herington High victorious. Some of the Alumni congregated along
the track, just like when they were in high school. Everybody got their hugs
in, took pictures and reminisced about the good old days. From across the
crowd, Amie smiled at Roy who was talking with some of his football buddies.
Someone tapped her shoulder and she turned to face Susan who smelled as if she
bathed in a whisky vat. “Susan, don’t tell me you’re drunk.”

“Wow, we have a regular
Einstein in our midst. You were always a smartass, Amie Brown. You get that
from the Japanese side of your family, right?” Susan cackled like a sick hen.

Amie started walking
over to where the others stood. Susan shouted, “Don’t walk away from me you no
account half and half slut. Just because you’re a fancy owner of some stupid
restaurant you think you can come back to town and take my man. You’re so
fucking wrong, girlfriend!”

By this time a crowd of
people gathered around observing the longtime rivals. Amie didn’t want it to
come to a head, but she knew this would happen one day. She was hoping tonight
in front of all of their classmates would not be the day.

“What the hell is going
on?” asked Sandy as Roy and Steven walked over to her.

“Just leave her alone,
she’s stinking drunk and wants to start shit. She’s got another thing coming if
she thinks I’m going to play her game,” Amie said. Susan staggered towards her.
“She can’t even stand up straight!
 
Will
somebody get the cops!”

It seemed Susan was
itching for a fight. She came at Amie charging and screaming like a wild
banshee. Amie caught Susan by the arm and flipped her over her shoulder onto
the hard ground with a loud thud. She then slipped her arm slowly around
Susan’s neck and slowly began to squeeze in a chokehold.

“Now listen here, while
we are waiting for the cops, I’m going to let you in on something. You can say
whatever the fuck you want about me, or about my race, or about what I do. I
really don’t give a fuck what you say. You, as far as I’m concern, are so far
underneath the scope you no longer even exist,” Amie railed.

Her grip got tighter as
Susan started writhing. Amie knew she was squeezing Susan’s vocal chords making
it impossible for her to talk. She was grateful for the silence.

“Now I’m going to give
you an option this evening, Susan, I am going to let you walk away from here
with either no broken bones, and the cops taking you away to sober your sorry
ass up, or I can break your fucking arm in three places,” Amie seethed. She
could see the scared look in Susan’s eyes.

“You…wouldn’t…dare…break…my
arm…you fucking bitch!” Susan muddled out between gasps of air.

Amie moved her arm in
such a manner Susan’s knees buckled and she slowly collapsed onto the ground.
The onlookers gasped as Susan’s body folded onto itself.

“Amie, stop…she’s had
enough now!” shouted someone.

A cop ran through the
crowd and called for an ambulance on his
walkie
talkie. Lucky for her, she knew the cop who came to Susan’s rescue.

“Hi there, Marcus, how
are you?” Amie said with a smile. Marcus shook his head.

“Hey, Amie, I see Susan
is up to her tricks again. What did you do?”

“She’s a drunken mess
and tried to start shit with me. She came at me, so I grabbed hold of her and
choked the attitude out of her. She’ll be fine. I do have plenty of witnesses
that will tell you the same exact thing,” she said.

Even though she knew
she shouldn’t have laid a finger on her, Amie was also aware this was a long
time coming. They had been at odds with each other for years. The bitch finally
got what she deserved.

The ambulance arrived and
the paramedics carried Susan away as she moaned in pain.

“I’m sorry, Amie, we’ve
been having a problem with Susan forever with her drunkenness. I never thought
she’d show up like that at the reunion. But I don’t think she’ll bother you
again after what you did to her tonight. By the way, what in the hell did you
do?” Marcus asked.

“That’s what I want to
know,” Roy said.

“I have studied karate
for years now. I’ve learned a thing or two about how to protect myself,” Amie
said. Roy gave her a hug and kiss. “Do you need me to come and make a report
because I can come on down right now?”

“Yes, you need to come
to the station.”

“Why don’t I take you
on down there?” Roy said.

“Roy, you know we have
to go over to Rick’s to go over some of the things for the party tomorrow.
Steven can take her on over to the station,” Sandy interjected.

“Good and you can stay
with her at the house until I get back. It shouldn’t take us long,” Roy said
patting his brother’s back.

“Great, come on,”
Marcus said.

Roy kissed Amie passionately
on the lips. Steven and Amie followed Marcus to the police station. Amie made
her report, and after catching up with Marcus and some of the other policemen
she knew from school, they headed back to Roy’s place.

Steven had been
watching the road, but also had been eyeing Amie. He couldn’t get her off his
mind even though he knew how wrong it was for him to think such thoughts. This
was his brother’s girl, the one he had been pining over for years. It was his
wife’s best friend and now after accidentally walking in on one moment of
passion she was all he could think about. He knew it was forbidden to watch,
but couldn’t keep from looking. He was now smitten with Amie. Smitten, he
thought.
What an idiot I am to be thinking these thoughts.

Deep down, he had been
smitten with Amie for years. Steven watched her grow up from the rambunctious
little girl who would come play to a beautiful young woman. He remembered when
he would watch her from afar, she smiled or laughed and he would think what if
he had gotten with her instead of Sandy. He knew the odds would have been
against them since word had been out from the get go if any man dated her, they
would have literally gotten their asses served to them on a platter.

But there was something
about her that intrigued him and it had nothing to do with her race. Amie was
nothing like the other girls. She was ambitious. She wanted more out of life
then to get married and have babies. She wanted so much more then Herington had
to offer her.

Steven and Amie often had
long talks, just the two of them, while Sandy was busy putting the girls to
bed, or when she called and Sandy was already asleep. He found her dreams of
becoming a cook and owning her own restaurant fascinating. She had wanted to
leave this town because she thought folks didn’t like her race. She had to
leave to have a future. All they ever talked about was how much she hated the
town and some of the folks in it. It disgusted and captivated him at the same
time. He never could understand their attitudes. To him, hell, to most of the
guys in school, she was glamorous. Her curly hair and almond eyes were unlike
anything they ever saw. They all secretly wanted her; she was the forbidden
fruit. No one wanted to risk the fallout. Steven moved on to Sandy. Hell, even
Roy dated Susan when all he really wanted was Amie.

Amie
remained quiet as they drove through town until he asked, “Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, can we get a
burger at Wendy’s?” she asked.

He pulled into the
Wendy’s drive thru and ordered. Soon they were on their way to Roy’s house. She
used her key to let them in, and Steven sat down on the couch with his food.
Amie took off her jacket, sat down on the other side of the couch and turned on
the television.

They didn’t say much
while they ate; it was too uncomfortable. He hoped his brother and wife would
hurry up. Steven was getting aroused watching her drink. Her lips puckered
around the straw and slowly she sucked the beverage through it. Damn, even that
was sexy as fucking hell he thought biting into his burger.

I can’t have these
thoughts, I can’t have these thoughts.

Good Lord, all of the
trouble he could cause for both of them. It would ruin his marriage; ruin his
relationship with his brother, not to mention both his parents and in-laws. But
when he looked over at her, all of that worry seemed to fade away. If he could
at least get a kiss from her, Steven thought he might be able to cast aside his
lustful thoughts for this woman.

This beautiful creature
came back into everybody’s life more captivating than before. He started
thinking about the day at the feed store. He couldn’t believe how beautiful she
looked wearing nothing more than a basic multicolored dress, her unruly curly
hair pulled back with a simple flowery headband. When she saw it was him who
knocked her down, instantly she smiled at him and they hugged. Even though he
had been hugged so many times before, Steven had never felt a hug such as the
one he got from her that day. It struck a nerve with him that at first he
didn’t understand. Later on, when he really had time to think, Steven knew the
reason why…he was in love with Amie Brown.

Once the burgers were
gone, Amie cleaned up the wrappers. She stretched for a moment and sat back
down with a thud. Steven kept his eyes on the television. His whole body
visibly shivered. His eyes closed for a moment and he bit his lip. Taking a
deep breath he looked over at her. He could never tell anyone what he saw, even
though he couldn’t stop picturing her beautiful body above Roy’s in an erotic
dance.

The phone broke the
building sexual tension he was hoping Amie couldn’t feel. Amie bent over to get
it behind her. “Hello?”

“Hey, girl, listen, we
are going to have to be here for another thirty or forty-five minutes. Tell
Steven to stay there because Roy says he doesn’t feel comfortable with you
being there by yourself,” Sandy said.

Amie stared straight
into Steven’s eyes. She replied, “Okay. I’ll let him know. Take care, sis.”

“That was Sandy. It
seems Roy wants you to stay. It’s going to be longer than they thought,” Amie
told Steven. “If you will excuse me, I need to go and take a quick shower…umm
you know where everything is right?”

* * * *

He nodded watching her
go into the back. He grabbed the remote and started clicking it. Soon he heard
the shower and his cock started throbbing. He was sure it would push itself
right out of his pants. His curiosity was killing him. He had never been so hard
in his life. Steven knew he was being led by his cock, but didn’t give a damn.
He had to go back there and see her naked again.

He deliberately got up
from the couch, peering out the window to see if anyone was coming. No, he
thought, no one is coming yet. He took his time walking from the living room,
down the hallway and into his brother’s bedroom. The clothes she had worn
minutes ago were now strewn on the floor. Steam was coming from the half-opened
door leading to the bathroom. Steven could hear the water hitting the curtain
and imagined the droplets running down that beautiful body of hers. He crept
towards the door and made his way inside.