Excerpt: Unfinished Business by Jessica Tilles
Chapter 1
The black Lexus idled in the driveway. Morgan’s slender, manicured fingers tapped the steering wheel, along with 50 Cent’s In The Club, as her head bounced and her lips mouthed the hip-hop lyrics. She gazed at the five-thousand-square-foot home Arthur surprised her with after their brief separation.
“A new house for a new beginning,” he announced when escorting her through the massive maple oak double doors.
Wondering what he would give her to make up for being an adulterer, she loved everything about the house, and it wouldn’t be long before she would hear the pitter-patter of Franklin’s tiny feet scampering across the black and white linoleum foyer. She couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, nor for that matter did she want to live anywhere else.
Living with Arthur after his transgression, however, was another story. Morgan wasn’t strong enough, nor could she find it in her heart, to forgive him, despite how hard he was trying to make things right. Knowing Franklin needed his father on a full-time basis, she knew how deprived she felt not having paternal guidance in her life, and she refused to have her son experience the same hurtful emotions she experienced.
With a resigned sigh, Morgan leaned her head back against the headrest. Whipping Raven’s ass had taken a toll on her, leaving her physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. Her heart now broken, she never wanted speak to her sister again.
“Oh Mama, what am I going to do? I wish you were here. I so need your guidance?” Speaking in a soft, serene voice, a crystal drop graced her cheek. Wiping it away, she lowered her head as she continued reflecting on this condition.
“A demon seed,” she whispered, repeating the words her father spoke to her in her dream. “You were right, Daddy.”
As she slowly raised her head, Morgan’s eyes opened to Arthur standing in the front door, smiling and waving.
Hissing at him in resentment while rolling her eyes, she turned her head. The sight of him nauseated her. Torn between conflicting emotions, a part of her felt awful. Yet at the same time, she wanted to be so mean to him; blatantly belligerent, hell bent on making him pay for his indulgence with her sister. She felt he deserved every bit of her anger as well.
Detecting, and then decoding her internal war, Arthur’s smile turned upside down, as he stepped back inside the house and closed the door.
Grabbing her purse, Morgan proceeded to exit the car, but the ringing of her cell phone stopped her. She pulled the cell from her purse, looked at the caller ID, and rolled her eyes upward once more.
“What is it?” she barked into the tiny hand-held instrument.
Arthur frowned up his face and stuck out his bottom lip. He knew what he did was wrong, but how long was she going to hold it against him? He was trying too hard to do everything right and make up for his fuck up. “Honey, are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Why are you wasting my minutes?”
Arthur was quiet for a moment. He was afraid to say another word; for fear that his head would be bitten off by the evil monster he undoubtedly created. Treading to the center of her frigid lake, he was walking on thin ice and knew if he wasn’t careful, he would fall through.
“Fucking idiot,” she mumbled under her breath. However, it was loud enough for him to hear.
Bravely, he cleared his throat and proceeded to speak, his voice barely above a whisper. “I have a hot bubble bath waiting for you, honey.”
“Did I ask you to run me a goddamn bath?”
Arthur gasped, but remained silent. Some how he understood how Kane, from Menace II Society, felt when the cops eloquently stated, “Now you see, you know you fucked up, right?”
As his mind played games on him, Morgan felt awful. Hunching her shoulders and sighing heavily, “Thank you,” she said.
“Morgan, I do love you. I know I can’t right the wrong I’ve committed, and I wouldn’t blame you if you decided to leave me…”
“I’m not leaving my house,” she snapped, her voice sharp and filled with smugness. “If you want to leave, then get the fuck out. However, I’m not going anywhere. Do you hear me?”
Arthur didn’t want to get into another blow up, for he knew the result would not be a positive one. “I’m not leaving either.” His voice trembled, “Your bath is getting cold.”
“Drain the tub,” she coldly ordered. He had pissed her off and she didn’t feel like being a loving wife toward a man who had defiled her bed and committed the ultimate sin with her sister. Before disconnecting the call, Morgan shouted, “Fuck you!” and tossed the phone onto the passenger seat. Leaning her head against the steering wheel, she tried to cry away her heartache.
Morgan took her time entering the house. Coming face to face with Arthur wasn’t something she was looking forward to encountering; she couldn’t bear it. Closing the door behind her, she dropped her purse to the floor, kicked off her shoes, leaned back against the door, dejected, and defeated. Aside from bloodshot eyes from a thirty-minute crying festival, her head was pounding and she craved peace and quiet. She hoped Franklin was down and napping, quietly.
Arthur sat on the bottom step, his head drooping as he glared at the floor.
“Where’s Franklin?” she asked in a solemn voice.
“He’s taking a nap.”
“Did you give him his bath?”
Avoiding eye contact, Arthur nodded his head, clasped his hands together and twiddled his thumbs. “What happened with Raven?”
“She got off easy,” she said, her iceberg disposition returning as she rolled her eyes and turned her head to the side. “I wish I had a cigarette.”
“You don’t smoke,” he chuckled softly, hoping to break the tension.
Sliding down the door, she sat on the floor and stretched her legs out before her.
The pause, though only for second, seemed like hours to Arthur. The guilt he felt was playing mind games. Finally ending the impasse, he shrugged his shoulders. “I fucked up, Mo.”
“Yes you did and in a big way too.” Morgan tossed her keys on the floor and watched as they slid across the bare floor. “I never cheated on you, Arthur. Humph, never even thought about it. I suppose,” she continued sarcastically, “I wouldn’t know how to cheat.” Then, she glared into his remorseful eyes in an attempt to pierce his heart the way he knifed hers. “But if I find me someone to fuck, preferably your brother, that would make it even. No?”
Sighing heavily, Arthur prepared himself; once again, for the tongue-lashing he knew she was famous for inducing. Morgan’s words cut deeper than any punishment she could bestow upon him.
He brushed his hands through his curly tresses, down to the back of his neck where he threaded his fingers together. He needed a hair cut. Unable to stop fidgeting, he ran his hand across his five o’clock shadow. He needed a shave as well.
“Even when we were separated, I never cheated on you. Don’t get me wrong, the temptation was there, but I loved you more than anything.”
“You’re using past tense. You don’t love me anymore?”
“Yes, I still love you. I can’t stand your ass at the moment, but I can’t stop loving someone at the drop of a hat either.”
Exhaling discreetly, Arthur felt a sense of relief.
She still loved him.
Morgan looked down at the floor and then at her toes. She wiggled them and pointed her feet toward him. “Not even my sister. Regardless of how she betrayed me, I still love her. I knew Raven was capable of many things, but her fucking you…well, I guess it really shouldn’t surprise me in the least.” She gently tapped her head against the door. “There was nothing I wouldn’t do for Raven. Her back was always secured as long as I was around. It would’ve been nice to know what it felt like for my sister to have had my back, every once in a while.”
“She’s sick. She has a problem.” Immediately after the comment left his mouth, Arthur wished he could press rewind.
Morgan gave him another menacing look into his eyes and hesitated. “What’s your excuse?”
Arthur noticed the warmth was no longer there; and it terrified him. “My actions were inexcusable and I’m beating myself up for it. We’ve overcome so many obstacles and I know we can overcome this.” Falling on his knees and crawling toward her, “Please don’t give up on me, Morgan,” he begged. Reaching her toes, he leaned down and kissed them. “I don’t want to think of living life without you.”
She tilted her head to the side and gnawed on her bottom lip. “Did you kiss her toes? You’ve never kissed my toes before now.”
Damn, Arthur thought, as he dropped his weight on her legs in defeat. “How long are you going to make me pay?”
“Forever!”
His warrior’s pride shattered, Arthur buried his face between her calve muscles and sobbed. “Oh God, Morgan…”
Seeing her man’s broken spirit, Morgan’s face softened. She pouted her lips and reached for his head, running her fingers through his hair and down to his cheek, pulling him up toward her. Staring deep into his eyes, she noticed that the sparkle was gone from his pupils.
They were gone from hers as well; for she no longer trusted him.
He pulled himself closer to her face and grazed her lips with his. “I’ll do what ever it takes,” he whispered, his tongue stroking her bottom lip.
Her lips trembled as she softly moaned his name, giving him more hope.
Arthur’s eyes remained opened, peering through to her soul, hopeful while hurting, trying to find an ounce of forgiveness. Not expecting to be pardoned really, he knew the journey to righting this ship was going to be a hard road to travel. However, he was willing to endure it no matter how bumpy or how far. Until death do us part, was his vow and he was sticking to it. The question was, was she?
He slid his hand up her thigh, to her abdomen, finding comfort caressing her breast.
Morgan, inhaling quickly while drawing her eyes tighter, squeezed out a single tear, causing a stream down her cheek. She shook her head defiantly.
“Not now, baby. Not now, don’t turn me away,” Arthur encouraged.
His tongue savored the saltiness of her skin as his lips brushed her ear, traveling across her cheek, down her lips, then tasting the sweetness of her strawberry-flavored lip-gloss.
Morgan’s lips trembled against his. “You need a condom,” she whispered.
The unaccustomed request sent chills throughout Arthur. Stopping, he pulled himself up on his knees and squared his shoulders. “I need a what?”
“You’ve been with someone else. I need to protect myself.”
“Protect yourself from what?”
“Arthur, you had sex with another woman.”
“For God’s sake, Morgan, I can’t keep doing this.”
“Then do what you have to do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Morgan shrugged her shoulders. “However you perceive. Shit, Shalimar said it best, ‘make that move, right now, baby.’” She snatched up her shoes and headed toward the stairs. “I don’t want you in the bed anymore. Since you’re not leaving the house, then you should move your things into the guest room.”
“Aww come on, Morgan. Now you’re being ridiculous,” Arthur shouted angrily as saliva sprayed from his mouth.
“I suggest you either use Hanna and her five sisters,” his wife announced sarcastically pointing in the direction of her punnanny. “Or better yet, get some ass from Raven, because you’re never going to touch this again!” Her message emphatically delivered, she stormed up the stairs, into the bedroom and slammed the door.
Arthur slouched against the wall. Peering downward at his crotch, his dick was hard as a two-by-four.
“I’m not giving up, Morgan,” he yelled up the stairs to a closed door.
Inside his home office, Arthur moved behind his massive oak desk and retrieved the tube of Vaseline from the side draw. He unscrewed the cap, squeezed a large amount into the palm of his hand and tossed the tube back into the draw, before unzipping his pants. Pulling back the opening of his boxers and allowing his flaccidness to breathe, he leaned his back against the high back chair and wrapped his greased hand around his penis. Closing his eyes, he pictured Morgan naked and stroked vigorously, wishing his lubricated palm was the warmth and wetness of her love. Speeding up the tempo, slowing it down, then renewing his excitement again, as the friction heightened, his lips parted and silent moans escaped from his mouth.
Suddenly, his thoughts of Morgan transformed to shared moments with Raven. Stroking harder and harder, getting more excited at the arousal created from his self-manipulated sex, Arthur moaned and groaned as he pushed the chair back away from the desk. Closing in on his nirvana by masturbation, he stretched his legs out before him as the creamy white thickness oozed from the opening, over his fingers and down his shaft. He looked down at the mess in total disgust.
“This is fucking ridiculous!”