His Betrayal Her Lies (4 page)

One thing Taylor knew was that Ari’s
lovemaking could go all night.

She closed her eyes. The mystery lady’s face
appeared to her. She fought hard to keep her composure and not
alarm Ari. She remembered the letter she received a week earlier
it can’t be.
Her gut told her that this woman was going to
be a world of trouble.

Dealing with this later was going to be
sooner than Taylor wanted.

Present Day…

Chapter 3

Ari’s business trips were not usually as
disruptive as this one. Last night, there had been a shouting match
between the husband and wife in room 310, two doors down from him.
Like it or not, Ari and the rest of the hotel’s third floor guests
now knew that Mr. 310 couldn’t stop chasing whores and Mrs. 310
“damn near made us bankrupt” with her out-of-control spending. He
threatened to divorce her; she threatened to kick his ass. Seconds
later, hotel security was banging on their door.

It was almost two o’clock in the morning and
Ari was unable to drift back to sleep. “Guess I could double check
my flight schedule,” he mumbled as he stretched and went to sit on
the couch. When he turned on his iPad and entered his password the
desktop appeared, filled with photos of him and Taylor together,
happy and in love. He hoped they were not destined to be the next
Mr. and Mrs. 310.

It was a no-brainer. He should have told
Taylor the truth when Maci called him up that rainy night and told
him that she was pregnant. But he had been afraid that he would
lose Taylor for being unfaithful. It was one thing to tell her he
cheated, but to tell her he had a baby on the way definitely would
have been pouring salt into the wound.

As far back as he could remember, Taylor had
always talked about starting a family together. She wanted a little
boy that had his hazel eyes and her reddish brown hair. It sickened
him to not be able to give her his firstborn. That one night of
lust and stupidity might cost him the love of his life. Ari figured
Taylor would never have to know if he played his cards right.

He took his iPhone out and checked a message
he had chosen to ignore when it came in just before midnight. It
was a text from the mother of his child. “What, you can’t call me?”
was all it said.

Getting into some kind of argument with her
was the last thing he felt like doing right about now. Thumbs
flying across the touch screen, he punched out
Evi DAMN dently. A tightness in his neck and shoulders
warned him to let it go. He tapped the backspace key repeatedly,
eating up the letters. He typed, “Busy now. Will call later.”

Sitting in the silent room, Ari dozed off.
His conscience played back frame-by-frame the events that put him
in this predicament.

* * *

When his parents died, Ari’s frat buddies
decided to take him on a trip to Miami to clear his mind. They
partied and drank every night. Ari tried to drink away his pain. He
wanted to escape the world. Even though Taylor was there to ease
his cries at night, he was pretty much mad at the fact that she
still had both of her parents.

One night in South Beach, his friends had
left him at a local bar and retreated to their rooms with women.
Ari was on his eighth beer when a slim, golden-complexioned woman
approached him and asked, “Is this seat taken?”

Ari looked up at the attractive beauty and
motioned with his hand for her to sit. She beckoned for the
bartender to come take her order. “I’ll have a vodka and cranberry,
and the gentleman will take …” She nodded her head toward
Ari’s drink and asked, “Is that a Corona?”

Ari lifted the bottle to his lips and downed
several swallows. “No, this is a Bud Light and I’m fine for right
now.” The bartender walked off to take other orders.

“Hi. My name is Maci Drummer.” She extended
her hand.

Ari didn’t feel like company. “I’m Ari
Gallagher and I’d appreciate it if you give me some space.”

Maci withdrew her hand.

Ari frowned and turned away. He knew this
kind of woman; she wasn’t used to getting turned down by a man. All
night, he had spotted her watching him from across the room,
waiting for his friends to leave so she could talk to him. He
couldn’t be sure but he guessed that his rudeness was not insulting
but actually intriguing to her.

“Oh, well I can respect you for wanting to
drink alone.” Her musky perfume enticed his nose. “I just thought
maybe you wanted some company.”

The bartender returned with her drink. She
took a sip and frowned. “Excuse me, bartender, but this is a virgin
beverage. I did request vodka in my drink.”

He took the drink and poured about a third of
it down the sink. “I’ll add more vodka ma’am.”

Before he could do it, she said, “Dump more
out; add more vodka.”Ari couldn’t believe the nerve of this woman.
He looked at Maci out the corner of his eye.

“What are you thinking, Mr. Ari?” she asked
taking the now-potent drink from the bartender.

“I never met a lady like you.”

“What do you mean a lady like me? And where
are you from? Your accent is provocative.”

Ari threw caution to the wind and decided a
little conversation wouldn’t hurt. “I mean, I never met a lady who
wanted such a stiff drink. And I’m from Kingston, Jamaica, but
moved to Chicago when I was thirteen. Why do you ask?”

Maci wrapped her moist lips around the tiny
straw in her drink and took a sip, her eyes fixed on Ari. “Oh
nothing. I just never met a Jamaican with hazel eyes and wavy,
cropped hair. I’ve never been to Jamaica. How is it there?” She
crossed her legs, not trying to hide her exposed thigh. Ari
scratched his forehead, stealing a glance at her toned legs. “I
really don’t remember a lot. I left when I was a teenager. All I
remember is my time in school and there being a lot of poverty
there,” he answered, not wanting to get sucked into a conversation
with her.

“Oh, well, I hope we get to go back
together.” She gave him a sinful look.

Ari started to correct her. He knew he
wouldn’t be going anywhere with this lady. But as the drinks kept
coming and the alcohol started to take control, it felt so natural
talking to her. They chatted about everything from her parents to
where she lived. She happened to live in Chicago as well. He
listened as she told him her dog Susie’s whole life story—even
though he didn’t really care for pets one way or the other. Ari
told her about the death of his parents. When the words left his
mouth, he didn’t understand why he would tell this outsider
something so personal.

By 4:00 a.m., the bar was closing and Ari
didn’t know how many drinks he had had. He was sure that Maci was
drunk. She had her arms around his neck, gushing and running her
hands up and down his chest. They stumbled out of the bar and
flagged down a taxi.

Ari looked over at Maci in the cab. “What
hotel are you in?”

Maci started babbling off names of hotels
that weren’t even located on South Beach. Ari told the driver to
take him back to his hotel. They had just started the five-minute
cab ride when Maci grabbed Ari’s dick and squeezed it.

He let out a squeal. “Oh, watch it girl, you
don’t want any of this.”

Maci licked her lips. “Maybe I do.” She
unbuckled his jeans and slid down his zipper. With three fingers,
she reached inside the hole in his boxers and grabbed his limp
dick. Ari hissed at the sudden force she applied.

Maci leaned down and licked the tip of his
manhood and ran her tongue straight down the sides.

His dick stood at attention and he grabbed a
hand full of her curly hair to pull her head up and down.

She spit on his dick and took the whole thing
in her mouth, his full length.

Ari felt the tip of his dick hitting against
her tonsils. He thought she would gag, but she let up a little.

She bobbed her head up down his shaft, while
he started groaning and saying incoherent things in a Jamaican
tongue. His body jerked beneath her and she tried to rise up. He
kept her head pinned to his member and released his white creamy
liquid into her mouth. “Swallow it now,” he ordered.

Maci responded to dominating boom of Ari’s
voice. She swallowed every bit of his creamy texture and licked her
lips. “Ummm, that was good, Ari.”

The cab driver parked in front of the hotel.
“That will be six dollars and forty cents,” the Indian man said
with a huge grin on his face.

Inside the hotel room, Ari fell back on the
bed. He watched as Maci danced around the room singing and taking
off her clothes. Ari wasn’t completely drunk; he could hold his
liquor. He thought about making Maci leave, but hell, he was in
Miami and Taylor would never know. In fact, he needed this
distraction to take his mind off his parents’ death. He was tired
of being the responsible Ari and always doing the right thing. For
once in his life, he decided to live on the edge. One night with a
new woman would be no harm. He knew he loved Taylor and was going
to marry her after they finished college. He could have meaningless
sex with Maci because there were no feelings involved—plus, she
would do things that he would never want or ask Taylor to do.

Maci stood at the foot of the bed staring
down at Ari with lust in her eyes. She was completely naked. Ari
sat up and grabbed her hips to pull her forward. He popped one of
her brown nipples into his mouth and sucked on it. He switched to
the other chocolate treat and sucked. Maci climbed on top of Ari
and he flipped her underneath him on her stomach. He kissed her
from the back of her neck down to her collarbone.

Getting up off the bed to take off his shirt
and jeans, he reached into his pants pocket and grabbed a condom
out his wallet. The room was dark. Only the lights from a club
across the street were shining through the windows. Ari tore open
the aluminum package. Maci flipped over on her back.

“Come on,” Maci’s raspy voice urged, “stick
it in now.”

He felt the tip of the condom going down his
nine-inch shaft, but before he could make sure he was properly
covered, Maci pushed him down on the bed, got on top of him, and
started rotating her hips on his dick to take him into her womanly
folds.

“Wait, hold up a second,” Ari pleaded with
Maci as she kept moving up and down his shaft. She was so wet, and
Ari couldn’t possibly stop her—it felt too good. He decided he
would pull out when he felt himself coming. Maci bounced up and
down, throwing her head back to the ceiling.

“Oh, oh baby this feels so good. Please don’t
stop.” She held Ari tighter as he started to pump upward, meeting
her stroke for stroke. Their rhythm was in sync.

He turned Maci over onto her stomach again,
and he stood up, directing the action as though she were a porn
star. “Bend your knees up into a doggy style position.” He entered
her from behind and pounded her over and over again. He caught a
fist full of her long curls and pulled her head as far back as
possible. “Take this dick.” Maci’s eyes rolled to the back of her
head.

Ari carried her over to a chair and he sat
down with her on his lap. She braced her feet on the sides and
jumped up and down like a bunny. Evidently she was determined to
show him that she could hang and give him more pleasure than any
woman he had ever been with.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ari, felt
himself getting dizzy. He was covered in sweat and he knew he would
explode any minute. Alcohol made him go longer. Maci was on top of
him, still pouncing like she was in a trance. He tried to flip her
over but she grabbed his shoulders and held on tight. Ari felt
himself losing control and his seed flowed into her. He immediately
jumped up. Maci stumbled to the floor.

“Maci, go pee right now.”

Maci, clearly not yet satisfied, looked
somewhat dazed. “What are you talking about, Ari?”

“Go use the bathroom. I think I came in
you.”

She pulled herself off the floor. “Oh, I’m on
the pill. Don’t worry about that.”

Ari sat on the edge of the bed. “Are you sure
we’re straight?”

“Yes, Ari, we’re good. I never miss my
pill.”

“Whew,” he blew out, like a man who had just
dodged a bullet. “A’ight, cool.” He casually added, “I think it’s
time for you to go.”

Right away, he knew from Maci’s posture that
she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Okay, so you just had
sex with me and now you are putting me out? Hell, I didn’t even get
mine yet! But you’re just going to throw me out your hotel room at
this time of morning.”

Ari knew he was not being the gentleman he
normally was but he was feeling guilty for cheating on Taylor. And
he didn’t want Maci to get the idea that there could be more
between them. “Naw, I mean, I’m leaving in a couple of hours to go
back to school and I was just saying you might as well leave now.”
Ari wanted to defuse the argument and confusion right away. He
didn’t want to hurt her feelings but the truth of the matter was
that it was only sex for him. Nothing more.

“Well, let me at least take a shower and lay
down for a few minutes. I have a headache.” Ari agreed; he didn’t
want to be a complete jerk.

* * *

Ari awoke with a jolt, the dream still fresh
in his mind. “Shit. Man up,” he muttered to himself. “Reliving this
over and over again won’t change a thing.” Getting up to splash
cold water on his face, he looked at himself in the mirror and
said, “You love your wife, you love your daughter, and you’re not
losing either one of them.” He hoped he could live up to that
decree.

Chapter 4

“Mrs. Gallagher, you have a call on line
two,” Taylor’s secretary said over the intercom.

Taylor hit the button to take the call, never
taking her eyes off the report she was reviewing on the computer.
“Dynasty Magazine, Taylor Gallagher speaking. How may I help
you?”