Don’t Ever Wonder (2 page)

He was in
the fetal position, sleeping like a baby. The sheets were all twisted up between his chocolate legs and saliva dripped slowly out the corner of his mouth. As usual only the aroma of bacon, eggs, and fried potatoes were enough to stir him from his slumber. Like clockwork Janette came into her bedroom with breakfast on a tray.

“Wake up, baby.” She nudged his slow-moving body so that he could sit up.

“I’m up.” Nate stretched and propped the pillows behind his back. “Where is the remote?” Janette pointed to the covers next to him and he nodded his head, letting her know he wanted her to hand it to him.

“So are you going to come down to the office today and join me for lunch.” Every day she asked and every day he gave her the same answer.

“We’ll see.” Nate flipped the channel to ESPN. “I told you I was going to go down to Run n’ Shoot today to renew my membership. While hiding out in Charlotte he had gained fifteen pounds. He seemed to meet one great cook after another, but Janette was a triple threat. She fried, broiled, and baked her thick ass off. Although he would never admit it she was the only woman whose cooking topped his grandmother’s.

“You said the same thing last week and the week before.” Janette was in the closet deciding which shirt to put on. “I don’t know why you think you need to go to the gym. No woman wants a man that is skin and bones. You look great.”

Compared to you I look great,
he thought to himself. “Nah, this isn’t me. I don’t feel right. I have never weighed over two hundred pounds.” He had a mouth full of food and was talking at the same time. “And you
are
going to stop making me all this fattening food. I know what you are trying to do.”

“And what is that?” Janette said, sticking her head out of the closet.

“You want me all fat so nobody else will want me.” He was spreading Country Crock on his toast.

“Negro, please. I’m a thick sistah and brothers are constantly pushing up on me.”

“Yeah, that’s because you are a two-hundred-pound goddess.” He puckered his lips up to get a kiss. Janette walked toward him and gave him a smooch on the lips and turned away to continue getting ready for work. “And that CL600 you pushing don’t hurt either.” He started laughing. Janette walked back over toward Nate and punched him softly in the arm and snatched a piece of bacon off his tray. “Hey, now. Don’t mess with a dog’s food while he’s eatin,” Nate growled.

“And don’t bite the hand that feeds you.”

“Speaking of biting, come here.” Nate placed the breakfast tray on the floor. He reached for Janette and his hands caught hold of her waist.

“No, sweetie. I am going to be late for work. We don’t have time.” She didn’t try hard enough to pull away.

“Work. I got all the work you need right here.” Nate slid his Calvin Klein boxer briefs down to his ankles and kicked them off. His dick was halfway hard and when Janette took a look she couldn’t fight the arousal that washed over her body. From the first time she had laid her hazel eyes on Nate she had wanted him. The tricky part had been getting him to do more than sex her. Her weight was distributed mostly on her hips and ass. Although they sagged a little, her 40DD breasts made most men drool and she kept them encased in the most beautiful brassieres money could buy. All of this is to say that Janette had no problem with her size, nor any problem enticing men with her appearance. She did however harbor deep fears of a man straying and wanting a smaller woman once she had become attached and decided she wanted him all to herself.

Nate had noticed Janette heading to her car after a jazz concert at Marshall Park on a Sunday afternoon. He had been intrigued with her walk. He had never seen a full-figured woman move with the grace of a runway model. He had no intention of stopping to talk to her until he moved past her car and saw her smile at him. He smiled back at her and then he heard her laugh and ask him if he was scared to stop and talk. Janette was confident and beautiful. Her hair, nails, and feet were always done. She was showing off at the concert with a tight pair of capri pants and a linen shirt with no bra underneath it. He had ended up standing at her car talking and putting his mack down until every car had emptied from the parking lot.

They had spent the next few days talking on the phone before Nate had decided to give thick loving a try. He had not regretted it. Janette ended up breaking him down with a massage that left him weak as a lamb. Before he met her he hadn’t slept soundly since leaving D.C., almost a year back. After Kim’s suicide Nate had succumbed to guilt and shame to the point that he had nightmares and anxiety attacks that left him short of breath. Eventually the cooking and pampering that Janette provided softened Nate, and he was able to fight off the guilt and depression that haunted him almost every night. As time wore on he became dependent on Janette and had all but abandoned his old ways of womanizing and running the streets. Although he was officially living in his Aunt Marion’s basement, he slept at Janette’s almost nightly. He’d put on weight like a pregnant woman and had stopped getting his hair cut regularly. It was as if he simply no longer cared about his appearance. The stress of Kim’s death and the guilt for his role in it had begun to wear him down. He was lost in feelings of regret for his treatment of her. Secretly he longed for some relief from the despair, but he’d never had to ask anyone for help. He didn’t know how, and now it was beginning to cost him. The man he’d always been was fading into something far less appealing. It would have been apparent that he was a broken man to anyone who truly knew him. But to Janette, he was a cuddly dream come true.

She took a glimpse at her clock and knew she would be late for her first patient. Still she leaned over and took him in her mouth. As she began sucking Nate, she thought long and hard about getting married one day. She had an idea what it would take to keep a husband happy and this was her version of it. Nate’s head instantly fell back and his mouth dropped open. She was sucking him so good. He knew that she was trying to take him out fast so that she could get to work. He wanted to slow her down so that he could show her that he was the boss. He attempted to pull himself up but her hands slid up his chest and pressed him back into the bed. With the other hand she began to pump his shaft while making loud slurping and purring noises with her mouth wrapped around the tip of his manhood.

“Oh, Nett. Oh, Nett.” He moaned out. “No, baby, not like this.”

She knew she had him. She started bobbing her head up and down using her tongue and the roof of her mouth to drive him over the edge. She had one hand on his nipples, pulling and caressing them. With the other hand she gripped his balls and massaged them, never stopping the suction she had going on.

The room began spinning. Nate was flat on his back trying to watch in amazement as Janette used her tongue like a weapon of mass destruction. Just as Nate was about to reach his orgasm, he regained his composure and caught her head on the upstroke. He pushed her head back and rolled away.

“Take those pants off,” he demanded. Her face showed disappointment that she hadn’t made him erupt but she knew her body was in for a delightful pounding. She grabbed her Nextel and smashed a button.

“Liza,” she said into the phone.

“Hey, Janette. What’s up?”

“Are you at the office?” Nate was standing behind her sliding her pants off. She stepped out of them. He then grabbed her thong and began sliding it down as well.

“I just got in.”

“Okay, I am running about a half hour late. Call Mrs. Tucker and see if we can push her down to three-thirty. What is she getting anyway?”

“Fillings. Two of them.”

“If she can’t make it then…” Janette stopped when Nate’s fingers found her button and penetrated her at the same time. “Whoo.” She said aloud. She mouthed “stop” to Nate but didn’t mean it. “Just do what you got to do. S…s…see you in a little bit.”

“Girl, you all right over there?” Liza had a feeling what was going on. Liza was Janette’s first and only receptionist and she noticed that Janette had been running late more in the last three months than she had in the previous four years combined since she had been practicing dentistry.

The phone was already on the floor and Janette had leaned over the bed. Nate had slipped on a condom and was entering Janette an inch at a time. “Mmmm,” he said. “Slippery when wet.”

Janette’s breathing quickened as Nate locked onto her hips and began banging away. Sometimes he hit it slow but that was more for him than her. She loved to be licked slow but fucked hard and fast. “That’s right, daddy. Bang it. Bang it.”

The bed was shaking as Janette used it to hold herself up. “You like that? You want it harder?” Nate quickened his pace and was pulling all the way out and slamming back into her. He worked nonstop on her, hitting it from the back like a madman for five minutes straight as sweat began pouring off of his chest.

Janette’s eyes rolled up into her head and she thought about how lovely life had been since Nate had been around. Any women who said size didn’t matter obviously had never been hit by a Mandingo like Nathan Montgomery. She was bouncing back against him, enjoying the feeling of him thoroughly working her middle. “Ooohhh, baby. Don’t stop.” She felt electric sparks start in her toes and creep slowly up past her ankles. Her thighs began to tremble to the point that she feared she wouldn’t be able to keep her balance.

Nate felt her orgasm nearing and decided to send her over the edge. He took the thumb that was gripping her right cheek and let is slip into her ass. When he did this Janette growled like a grizzly that had been shot with a dart gun. She tried to stand as the tides of her orgasm crashed through her body but she was too weak. “Are you cumming, Nett?”

Why he had to ask she never knew. “Yes. Yes. Yessss.” And she let out a series of short screams. His breath quickened and she knew what to do. She summoned all the energy in her body and pulled away from him, spun around, and dropped to her knees. In one motion she had the condom off and Nate in her mouth.

“Oh yes.” His body stiffened and the veins in his neck seemed to pop out at the same time he released into her mouth. She took him all in until she was sure he was finished.
This is how to get a man and that food I cook is how to keep one,
she thought as she swallowed his juices. “Girl, you so nasty,” Nate said as a smile slowly formed out of the fuck face he sported moments earlier.

Janette wiped the drops that had run on her chin and licked her fingers clean. “You love it. You love it.” She repeated.

“I can’t get enough of it.” He began laughing. He pointed down to his penis, which was still hard. He walked into the bathroom singing, “It’s the remix to ignition coming hot out the kitchen….”

He could see that Janette had picked up her cell. “Liza. Cancel and reschedule all my appointments. I’ll work late all next week.” He stood in the door of the bathroom and shook his head.

“Girl, you are crazy.”

“Nasty, crazy, whatever. Just come eat me.”

Of all the
people Brendan expected or wanted to bump into in Dr. Carson’s office, he would have been close to last. When Brendan saw his face he wished he could turn around and walk right back out the door. Mr. Shoreham put the
Black Enterprise
magazine down and immediately noticed Brendan.

“Hey fella,” Mr. Shoreham said. Brendan was surprised that there wasn’t even the slightest hint of hostility. He leaned across the magazine table to give Brendan a handshake. “Where you been? Just because Renée moved out of town doesn’t mean you can’t stop through and say hello once in a while.”

Brendan swallowed hard and tried to digest what Mr. Shoreham had just said. “Oh. I have just been working hard, you know trying to put those hours in.” Sensing that he needed to keep the conversation moving, he added, “I will try to get by there one day to see you and the missus.” Brendan was stunned that Renée had moved out of town and not so much as said good-bye.

“You need to do that. How is your family?” Before Brendan could answer, Mr. Shoreham went on. “As a matter of fact I saw your mom a few weeks back out at Arundel Mills.”

“Everyone is fine.” Brendan shot him few questions about his grandson, followed by a couple of comments about the weather, before he came up with a way to ask him about Renée. It was obvious that she hadn’t told her parents about the way that they had fallen out. If he had known Brendan had broken his beloved baby girl’s heart, Mr. Shoreham might have tried to put a chokehold on Brendan right there in the waiting room. “So how does Renée like it down there…” Brendan faked a yawn. “Excuse me.”

“No problem. She said she loves it in Houston. She complains about the heat but it’s Texas. I mean what did she expect?” Mr. Shoreham laughed. “I think I am going to make it down there this fall. You ought to come with me.”

Brendan imagined himself showing up at Renée’s door. His face tightened when he thought of the drama that might unfold. “Yeah I might do that,” he said, knowing full well there was no chance of it.

“Yeah, her fiancé is a really nice guy. He reminds me of you, to be honest. Just a clean-cut, decent guy. Just like you, as a matter of fact.” He patted Brendan on the shoulder. “When I met him on Easter, I joked with her. I said you didn’t have to go all the way to Houston to marry Brendan.” He burst into laughter and Brendan’s face had the kind of look you get when you pass gas out loud in a crowded elevator.

“Wow, that’s really something.” Is all he said in a low tone, but really wanting to scream out,
That’s some bullshit
.

The receptionist called Mr. Shoreham up to the counter and gave him a prescription. He gave Brendan a handshake as he was on the way out. “Don’t be a stranger, son. I mean that.” Brendan nodded and Dr. Carson came out and told him to come to the room in the back. His mind was racing with thoughts from all the news that he’d just gotten. His best friend since middle school had cut him off. He had played with her emotions. Unintentional as his actions had been, a lifelong friendship had been ruined by passions gone awry. Now she had left town, which seemed to be a new trend for everyone he knew. Brendan wondered about her getting engaged so soon after leaving and assumed she was on the rebound. His mind was completely blown by it all.

As he sat on the examining table he tried not to wrinkle the white paper on the table. He thought about calling Cory from his cell to tell him about what he’d heard but decided to wait until his appointment was over. Dr. Carson walked back into the office. “Hey, Dude. How are you?”

Brendan considered telling him the truth but instead gave the traditional, “Fine.”

“Great. Listen, I called you back in for two reasons.” Dr. Carson was looking at his charts. “Like Yvonne told you, your sodium levels were a little abnormal but that is nothing to really worry about. Just start drinking some more water and I will check it for you in two weeks.” He placed the chart down on the table.

“Okay. But what was the other thing?” he asked, thinking he’d heard the worst.

Dr. Carson took a deep breath that Brendan realized couldn’t be anything good. “My friend, from looking at your culture, it, seems that you may have contracted a case of chlamydia.”

“Say what?” Brendan shot back.

“I can’t say one hundred percent without blood work, but I tested you for everything in your physical.” Dr. Carson picked up the file and started scribbling. “I don’t want to say it’s no big deal, but it is easily treated. I will get you a quick shot and a prescription.” He grabbed a needle and told Brendan to drop his pants. A few seconds later and the needle was pulled from his hip.

“So what does this mean?” Brendan was trying to make sense of it all. “Has my girlfriend been cheating?”

Dr. Carson smiled. As far as Brendan was concerned there wasn’t anything to smile about. “Not necessarily.” He handed Brendan the cotton ball doused with alcohol and a Band-Aid. “You may have contracted this anytime after your last checkup which was…”

“Seven months ago, and, Doc, I haven’t had sex with anyone except her since then.”

A frown came over the doctor’s face. He nodded his head to show that his heart went out to Brendan. “Then there’s a pretty good chance she has some explaining to do.” He scribbled on his prescription pad. “Tell her she needs to get checked out. Also, I would advise that you don’t have unprotected sex.” He handed Brendan the prescription. “Two a day for ten days. Take care of yourself.” He shook Brendan’s hand and headed out the door.

Brendan moved up the short hallway, through the lobby, and out of the office building. When he walked outside, he was blasted by the heat. Instead of lifting him up, the sun felt like the decisive blow in a heavyweight fight. As he moved toward his car he thought,
Some days it doesn’t even pay to get out of the bed
.

Brendan exited the parking lot and put on a Kindred CD as he tried to pull himself together. As he drove toward the CVS he contemplated all the possible outcomes to his situation. Trina would be coming home from work in a couple of hours and had no idea how angry he was. Renée was two thousand miles away and engaged to some clown who was “a lot like him.” He wondered if he would have been happier if he and Renée had tried to work things out.

Wondering about it now was pointless. It was water under the bridge as far as he and Renée were concerned. Right now he needed to focus on his and Trina’s problems and he needed a plan. He would have a better shot at hitting the lottery than he would at getting an honest answer out of Trina. She had come a long way since they had gotten back together, but she had a history of cheating and lying. It was apparent that she still wasn’t playing fair. This time, though, Brendan was determined to beat her at her own game and make her pay.