Destination D (29 page)

“Well, I remember the time when he thought one of his officers had taken some drug money from a crime scene. None of them would tell what really happened, so my father conveniently reassigned them to some of the worse precincts in the city.”

“What happened next?”

“The money suddenly reappeared. The first time he discovered the money was missing, he came home that evening and sat at the dinner table and stared right through all five of us and said, ‘I betta not ever catch none of ya'll stealin' or lyin'. Ever!' He snatched up his plate and went and ate in the dining room alone. My mother ran out and told him, ‘Drake, don't intimidate these kids to make them do what you want! What's the matter with you?'”

“What did your father say to that?”

“My father sat back in his chair and looked at her sternly and said, ‘They betta learn early on or they'll end up like one of my officers behind bars.' Okay, I'll admit it. You're a pretty good shrink, Marc. I can see how I have taken my father's threatening tactics and used them on the paralegals at work. Now what's next?”

Marc smiled as he did when one of his patients had a significant break. “What do you want to be next?”

“How about we not make me one of your head cases just yet? Let's talk about you,” Pam said eying him cautiously.

“Well, that's fair. Hmmm, let's see. Where do I start?”

“How about your family?”

“Okay, are you sure you want to know? I mean I don't want you to change your opinion of me.”

“What makes you think I have an opinion of you?” Pam joked.

“Ah ha! Well, you've got me there, Counselor. I must admit, that was a good one.”

“No, seriously. I'd love to hear about your family.”

“Well, my father was an alcoholic and was abusive to my whole family when we lived in California.”

“Are you serious?”

“Very. Fortunately, my mother managed to escape by keeping a job as a maid without my father knowing about it. She would give her money to one of the ladies she was working for, for safe-keeping so Papa wouldn't waste it on liquor, and when she saved up enough money, she took me and my two older brothers and caught a bus to Salt Lake City, where we changed our names and started a new life.”

“Now that is incredible! Your mother is a remarkable woman.”

“She is. You ever heard of Shine Cleaning?”

“Yes, I've heard of them before. I hear they're an excellent cleaning service.”

“I know. My mother founded the company several years after we moved over to the states. It's really well-known over on the west coast, but it's spreading around,” Marc said.

“Is your mom still running the business?”

“No, she eventually sold it and was able to send all three of us to Ivy League schools from the proceeds,” he laughed.

“That's fantastic.” Pam hesitated before she asked her next question. “So, where's your father now?”

Marc shrugged his shoulders. “Don't know, and don't care.”

“I see,” she said as she caught him staring into her eyes.

Marc got up, tugging at her hand to pull her up from the sofa. “Enough of this heavy talking. I'm starting to feel extremely lucky tonight. Are you up for some gambling?”

“That's why I'm here.”

“So, let's hit the slots, Counselor!”

Safe Return Home

L
ooking at Amanda with one eye open, Melvin said, “Good morning, suga.” “Hey there, you,” Amanda said, hoping Melvin didn't hear the guilt in her voice.

Melvin felt Amanda's hesitancy as he leaned over to kiss her. “What's the matter, baby? Gimme some of that good kissin' I'm used to,” he said pulling her face closer to his. Amanda finally gave in and kissed him tenderly. “Now, that's better. How you feelin' this mornin'?”

“Never been better,” she said, pushing herself away from him as he leaned in to pull her back.

“Where are you trying to rush off to?”

Amanda smiled sheepishly. “I'm just about to make my way to the bathroom. Is that okay with you?”

“Hurry back in here, then.” He patted her on her rear end as she breezed past him.

When Amanda finally reached the bathroom, she looked at herself in the mirror and was suddenly overcome with nausea. She turned on the water and vomited into the sink as quietly as she could.

“Are you all right, baby?”

She could hardly breathe. If her heaving didn't stop soon, she knew Melvin would become suspicious.

“Amanda?”

“I'm fine,” she said, splashing some cold water on her face. She stared at herself again in the mirror, feeling like an adulteress, even though she wasn't married.

“Well, now, just one more day before you return back to work.”

“That's right,” Amanda yelled back with a mouthful of toothpaste.

“I don't know about you, but I sure am glad, because I think you were going a little stir-crazy around the house. You were starting to run out of projects.”

“I can always come to work for you,” she yelled back as she spit out her toothpaste and rinsed out her mouth.

“And do what?”

“Oh, I dunno, some hammering, pulling up some carpet,” she said as she walked out of the bathroom and crawled back into bed.

“Oh, so is that all that you think I do all day?” he said as he grabbed her underneath the covers and nibbled on her neck.

“Melvin, stop! No!”

“No, I ain't stoppin'! You think you're so cute, don't cha,” he said while crawling on top of her, pressing his face against her neck then blowing on it.

“You're acting like a fool, Melvin. Get off me!” she squealed and caught her breath as he got off her and started laughing.

“I'm only a fool when it comes to you, baby! Amanda, I need to ask you something,” his voice turned serious.

Amanda patted him on his thigh. “Sure. What is it?”

“You know I'm not a man of many words, but I know what I want, right?”

“Yes,” she said propping her pillow so she could look him in the face.

“Okay, here goes,” he said, smiling nervously as he opened up the nightstand drawer and pulled out a black velvet box.

Amanda's stomach began to flip. “Melvin!”

He opened the box and slipped the one-carat pear-shaped diamond onto her finger. It was set in platinum with smaller diamonds around the band. “Will you marry me, Amanda? It sho' would make me a happy man,” he said.

The look in his eyes turned Amanda's guilt to heartache. She wished she could erase what happened last night. She wiped away the tears that were traveling down her face. She thought about the irony of her situation. After three years of dating, Melvin had officially proposed to make her his wife. How ironic for him to ask her now.

Mile High Club

T
he night passed quickly while Pam played the quarter slots relentlessly and Marc played the roulette table. “Hey, Pam!” Marc yelled. “C'mon over and give me a lucky number.”

Pam put another quarter in the slot. “I'll be over in a minute. I think I finally got her warmed up!”

Ching! Ching! Ching! The quarters rolled out so fast that Pam couldn't collect them in her bucket fast enough. “I won! I won! Five hundred dollars! Yes! I won!” she screamed all the way over to where Marc was. Before she caught herself, she grabbed him and hugged him. He turned around and kissed her eagerly on the lips.

“Congratulations!”

“Thanks,” Pam said, caught off guard a little.

“Sam, here is my lucky charm,” Marc said to the roulette table attendant.

“So, what does the charm, say, sir?”

“Five!” Pam shouted.

“Let it all roll on number five!” Marc laughed. “The lady gets half of whatever I win.” Marc watched as the numbers spun and the ball rolled directly into the five slot. “Oh yeah! I told you she was good luck! The Bellagio owes the good doctor here seven grand! Yes!”

“You gambled seven thousand dollars? Marc, are you crazy?”

“Crazy for you!” he said lifting her up to swing her around. Then he kissed her while the crowd cheered him on.

“Marc! Put me down!” Pam laughed. “You're embarrassing me!”

“Oh, I'm sorry,” he said, setting her down. “Let's go cash in our chips and quarters.”

“This was such a great evening,” Pam said as she watched the cashier count their winnings. “I can't believe you won all of that money.”

“We won it.”

Pam looked up at him admiringly. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had this much fun. She didn't want the evening to end.

“Pam, why don't we go back to the room and have a nightcap,” Marc said almost as if he had read her mind.

“A nightcap would be good. It will help me get a good night's sleep too, especially after such a whirlwind evening in that casino.”

As they rode the elevator back to their floor, Marco noticed that Pam couldn't stop smiling. “I'm glad to see you're so happy and relaxed. Vegas will do that to you,” he said.

When the elevator doors opened, he took her hand and escorted her to his suite. Pam took off her shoes and sat down on the loveseat next to the window. The amazing view reminded her of the Emerald City in
The Wizard of Oz.
It would be so easy to fall in love with this city, she thought. Vegas had all of the colors, brilliant lights, and excitement.

Marco handed her a glass of cognac and took a sip of his and sat next to her. “Here, I want you to try this.” He watched her take a sip and could tell she enjoyed its smooth flavor. “Good, huh?” he said as Pam nodded. “One of the things I admire about you is that you never hold back. You speak what is on your mind.” His smooth accent sounded like easy listening music. She could listen to his voice all night.

“Well, thank you.” Pam wasn't sure where this was leading, but she liked what she was feeling.

“I don't want you to feel uncomfortable,” he said, giving her a quick peck on the lips. “Pam, I want to make love to you. Will you let me?” He felt the tension in Pam's back as she pulled away from him. She was the first woman he had ever read wrong.

“Do you always ask that question in such a formal manner?” she laughed, as she gestured to his glass insinuating that it was the cognac talking and not him.

Relieved that she still had a sense of humor, he spoke assuredly, “Usually, I don't have to ask. Believe me, you are the first,” he said as he placed his hand on his heart.

Pam took both their drinks and set them on the nearby table and sat in his lap. She settled herself on his hardened bulge and seductively draped her arms around his neck. She delicately brushed the back of his hair with her fingers. Whatever had come over her, she didn't want to think about it. She wanted only to feel again.

“Show me what you've got, Doctor,” she purred as she placed her fingers between his legs and unzipped his pants. He smiled obligingly, helping her with his zipper and revealed himself to her.

“Now, that's what I'm talkin' about,” Pam grinned.

Marco found the zipper on her jacket and pulled it down to reveal her breasts. He bent down and gently sucked each protruding nipple, sliding his hands down her pants and slipping them down to her knees. She felt herself throbbing as his manhood rested on her leg. Marc eased her onto the sofa, carefully laid her down, and pulled her underwear and pants completely off.

“I'll be right back. Don't move,” he said in a low sexy voice as he headed toward his suitcase.

“Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere,” Pam said breathlessly.

He took off the rest of his clothes and pulled out a pack of condoms. “How many do you think we'll need?”

“Ummm…bring them all and we'll see,” she moaned.

Still erect, he slipped the condom on and walked over to her as she lay naked on the couch. He sat down next to her, placing her back on his lap and skillfully moving inside of her. She felt relieved that he was not into having unprotected sex. Her moan was loud as his manhood touched her very core. It had been so long since she felt this way, as he lifted her up while still inside her, then he carried her to the large ottoman next to the bed. He laid her down, easing himself farther inside her, and then glided himself back and forth until they reached a steady rhythm.

“Ummm, Marc…Oooo…” Pam whimpered wrapping her ankles around his neck. He moved deeper inside her until he felt her warm liquids flow freely from her body.

“Pam, I don't want this feeling to end,” he said, resting on top of her while gingerly kissing her lips. “I can't remember the last time I felt this way about someone.”

“Uh huh,” Pam managed to utter, still breathless from her orgasm. She felt his tongue make circular motions on her bare breasts while his fingers gently massaged her nipples. His tongue sampled her stomach and then her navel, making its way down toward her center of pleasure. “Oh Marc…” she pleaded.

“Shhh…just relax and let me do the work,” he said placing his finger over her lips as he immersed his tongue inside of her sending her into her personal paradise.

“Marc…please…please…you've got to…to…”

“Got to do what? This?” he teased as he lifted her onto his rock-hard penis and penetrated her again. “Is this what I got to do, huh? Is this what you want?” he said, making his strokes longer and faster as her hands trembled, barely able to hold onto his shoulders.

“Yes! Yes! Oh my God! Yes!” she wailed as she felt another waterfall flow freely from her body.

“Oh…Pam,” Marc moaned, shaking just before he reached his finale.

Pam looked up at him and smiled, then laid her head on his chest. “Marc,” she whispered.

“Huh?” he answered groggily as he lightly kissed her ear lobe.

“I don't want this feeling to end either.”

“It won't. I'll be back in Atlanta next Friday to make sure of it.”

Poor Visibility

T
he sunrise brimmed through Amanda's window. She lifted her hand in the air and watched her ring shimmer in the light. Slowly, she put it back down and turned the diamond underneath her finger.

“All right, baby, it's hot and it's waiting on you,” Melvin said as he walked into the bedroom.

Amanda smiled at him seductively and quickly turned her ring back to its correct position. “Is that the breakfast you're speaking of or something else?”

“It's the breakfast,” Melvin laughed. “C'mon out here and eat so you won't be late for work. I can't let my future wife start her day off hungry.”

The thought of being Mrs. Landers made her so giddy that she even forgot to tell Tracey. She walked into the kitchen and sat down to a nice spread of assorted muffins, omelets, bacon, freshly squeezed orange juice, and a pot of coffee.

“A bride could get used to this treatment,” she said, giving him an affectionate peck on the lips. She licked her lips at him and took a sip of her coffee.

“So what do you think your day will be like today?”

“Oh, I don't know. I'll probably dive right into whatever case Mr. McKesson puts me on. It's not like I've been gone that long, you know.”

“What about your girl, the infamous Pam Madison?”

Amanda shrugged her shoulders and took a long sip of her juice. “I'm going to pray for her.”

“Well, you need to include yourself in that prayer, too,” he said, noticing that she was nervously tapping her foot. “You're not a little nervous about her comin' back to work?”

“I'm not nervous about anything, Melvin,” she said confidently, immediately putting a stop to her foot tapping. “All I have to do is look at this beautiful diamond on my finger and it will make me think of you and all of the wonderful years that we have ahead of us. Pam Madison is only a bad a memory.”

“So, is that what your meetin' was about the other evening?” Amanda was caught off guard by his question. “Amanda, why are you looking at me like you don't know what I'm talkin' about?”

“Oh, yes, well the meeting was so anti-climactic in comparison to your proposal that I forgot all about it!” She'd forgotten that she lied about the other night, telling him that she had a late meeting with Bill to discuss her coming back to work at the firm.

Melvin had a peculiar look on his face as he gulped the last drop of his orange juice. “Amanda, is everything all right with you?”

Amanda could not look him in the eyes. “Of course, suga'. Why wouldn't it be?”

“All right, baby, if you say so.” Melvin sounded skeptical. “Maybe you just have them pre-wedding jitters.”

“Of course, I do,” Amanda smiled nervously. “I'm going to be the wife of The Mr. Melvin Landers. Who wouldn't be a little nervous? Right?”

Melvin chuckled. “You right about that. The first and the last!” The telephone rang and startled Amanda. “I'll get it, baby. It's probably Tracey callin' to wish you good luck on your first day back at work.”

“Yes, you're probably right,” she said, sitting back down to sip her coffee.

“Hello. Hello, is anybody there?” Melvin spoke into the receiver.

“Who is it, Melvin?”

“I dunno. They hung up. Must have been a wrong number.”

“Yeah, must have been,” Amanda said sounding a little worried. “Honey, excuse me for a second, will you?”

“Sure.” Melvin rose from the table along with her. She felt his eyes follow her into the bedroom and knew she must look like a basket of nerves to him.

Amanda sat down, took a peek at the Caller ID screen, and gasped.

“Hey, baby, you sure, you're okay? Melvin said as he poked his head in the doorway. “Your breakfast is getting cold.”

“I'll be right there,” she said, digging through the drawer of her nightstand. “There you are,” she said, opening a bottle of aspirin and popping two in her mouth, then headed back to the kitchen to finish her breakfast.

“Hey, baby, I'll rinse off the dishes and put them in the dishwasher for you, and then I gotta go.”

“So soon?” Amanda said, feeling somewhat relieved.

“Yeah, I took a couple of hours off, but I've gotta be on the other side of town by 9:00.”

“So, I guess I better be heading off too if I'm going to get to the firm by 8:00,” she said, standing on her toes to kiss him on the lips. “Thanks for the scrumptious breakfast, Melvin. I love you.”

“I love you, too, baby,” he said, giving her a squeeze. “See you this evening.”

Amanda closed the door behind him and leaned up against it. She took a deep breath before she walked back to her room and called the number from her Caller ID.

“Hello, this is Rick.”

“Rickey.”

“Hey, Amanda. I thought I copied your number down wrong, ‘cause I had just called you earlier but some man answered the phone.”

“I know. You hung up on Melvin.”

Rickey was quiet for a minute. “Hey, I didn't know—”

“Rickey, don't pretend you didn't know about Melvin.”

“I wasn't. What I was going to say was that I just didn't think he would be there
this
early.”

Trying to stop herself from raising her voice, Amanda was oblivious to the sound of the key in the front door.

“Hey baby, it's me,” Melvin called out. “I left my wallet on the counter.” He made his way back toward the kitchen. The intensity in Amanda's voice made him stop short and walk back and listen through the crack of her bedroom door.

“Listen, Rickey. We need to talk about last night.”

“I agree. Things happened kind of fast.”

“And they got out of control.”

“I wouldn't say that, Amanda. We made love. What is so out of control about that?”

“Rickey, what happened between us cannot ever happen again.”

“Why not?”

“It…can't,” she stated, a little reluctantly.

“You said that already, but tell me why?”

“Because Melvin asked me to marry him.” Her voice was nearly cracking.

“So what did you tell him?”

She could hear the anguish in his voice. “Rickey, don't make this more difficult than it already is, okay?”

“What? All I'm asking is a question. You're the one who's making it difficult.”

“I told him yes.”

“But how could you after what happened between us?”

“Because I love him.”

“What about me. What about us?”

“That's the difficult part,” she said weakly.

“What is?”

“I still love you too…”