A Fight For Love

Chapter 4

It had almost been a week since Desiree had her encounter with Leon and even though she had decided to be honest with Taylor about him kissing her, she had, most definitely, kept a lid on the s*x dream. The last thing she needed was him being any weirder than he already was. She was already scared that he was taking the whole thing a little too seriously. As far as Desiree was concerned, he had actually become a bit withdrawn. Even though they spent time together, things were different and she wished more than anything that she could take the three minutes back, the three minutes it had taken for her to tell him what happened in Leon’s penthouse. In the few days that had passed, Desiree and Taylor had not had any s*xual encounter and, as far as she was concerned, there was little prospect, the way things were going, of them sharing much intimacy.

At first, the lack of intimacy had been because she was still so sore from the jackhammer s*x Taylor had ever so lovingly delivered, but also because it had been a crazy week for her. This was the one weekend that every retail store hated and loved at the same time. It was Black Friday and one thing Desiree knew was that even though there were going to be enormous commissions at the end of the day, there was hell to pay before you began to glimpse the light at the end of the tunnel.

To make it worse, Desiree had made a mistake in orders and, instead of the usual fifty crock pots that the store ordered, they had gotten ten times more crock pots than they needed and now she had to come up with a plan to save her a*s. And the plan had worked. As she sat there looking at the other store employees, she could not have been more elated. As she looked at her team members in the small, workmanlike office, she smiled. “We did it guys,” Desiree said smiling proudly. “And we did it three days before Black Friday, so, a big up to everyone. Keep this up and maybe we can have a proper, if belated, Thanksgiving,” she added as people left her office. She felt really bad that the store workmates had to miss Thanksgiving, and, as was store’s custom, they always took one day off to make up for the holiday and even though it was never as good as a ‘true’ Thanksgiving, she was still grateful for it. For that reason, her family always had a surrogate one a week later, a tradition that they had come to love. In addition to all that, it was Desiree’s birthday and she had planned a small party for her. She had, of course, got Tony to blindside her sister so that they got some time to get everything started.

At the end of her shift, she took a cab to Cynthia’s café to pick up the cake. By the time she got there, Cynthia was already done for the day, and trying to balance her books.

“Hey, Dee. Almost done here and then we can head out,” Cynthia said as she put containers of food in paper bags.

“What did you get?” Desiree asked.

“Well, as we know, Rochelle is a big fan of Chinese food so I thought we could do fried rice and sweet and sour chicken. Tony said he would be bringing the wine. So we are set here,” Cynthia said as one of the café workers brought out the cake. “And for the dessert, her favorite, red velvet,” Cynthia said as Desiree stepped forward to close up the box.

“Damn, woman, I just want to take a nice big scoop of frosting right now,” Desiree said as she inhaled the rich aroma of the cake.

“I know, but we must control ourselves,” Cynthia said as she picked the bags up. “We’re done here. Let’s go,” she said as they began walking out of the café. They hailed a cab and made their way to the apartment. When they got home, they set the table and sat down to some coffee as they waited for the guys. “So, I am not one to gossip but you know your sister and it’s not like I can shut out a juicy story. God knows I need some excitement in my life,” Cynthia said as they sipped on their coffee.

“What do you mean excitement? I thought things were going on well with the new guy,” Desiree said.

“It’s a good thing you don’t know his name. He was not staying long in my life anyway,” Cynthia said.

“I’m sorry?” Desiree asked confused.

“He enlisted and…I can’t…I can’t go through that again. I’m done with soldiers,” Cynthia said. Desiree gave her a sad smile and took her hand in hers.

“I’m so sorry, cuz. I wish there was something I could do,” she said. Cynthia shook her head.

“I think that at this point, I am done with men, they’re all liars and bas*ards and the world would be better off without them and their selfish desires” she said bitterly.

“That’s what I used to say before I met Ericson, remember?” Desiree said.

“Well, men are there, but there are not so many good ones left,” Cynthia said before taking another sip of her coffee.

“If there is one thing I am sure of, it is that you, Cynthia Monroe, are a beautiful and strong woman. There is a man out there for you. A man that will see you for the proud Nubian sister you are and he will love you. I am certain of it,” Desiree said as she looked into her cousin’s mournful eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. Enough about me. I want to hear about you and that stolen moment of illicit passion with Leon,” Cynthia said smiling gleefully.

“Of course she told you that. But there is nothing more to tell,” Desiree said.

“Oh come on, there has to be more. Was it that kind of touch- and- go kiss or was it one of those where you want to pull away but for some reason you just can’t?” Cynthia asked. Desiree looked awkward for a moment, why was everyone so interested in her love-life? She wondered.

“I don’t know, Cynthia. I guess it took me a second to piece together everything that was going on,” she said.

“Wow girl, that’s tight! And what now? What’s going to happen?” Cynthia asked.

“Well, when push comes to shove you know you have to do something. I had to get a restraining order otherwise he would have just stalked me right up to my grave, maybe even beyond” she shuddered.

“That serious huh?” Cynthia asked. Desiree rolled her eyes and nodded.

“Oh yeah. We had some good times but at least I knew when to let go ,but him? It’s a whole new degree of crazy,” she said.

“Yeah, he told me of the divorce and I thought he was kidding at the time,” Cynthia said. Desiree looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Wait, he told you of the divorce? When? Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked.

“He came to me trying to get me to talk to you and he said he had filed for divorce. And he wanted me to tell you too, but I thought that it was just one of his ploys to try and win you back. I just told him to stick it up his flabby country a*s and get out. I didn’t want to upset you. It happened at around the same time Mark propositioned you,” Cynthia explained. Desiree shrugged.

“Guess it’s for the best. I have never had a man come after me like this. I hate to say this but this is too damn creepy,” she said. “And to think I once loved the scumbag,” she added as she shook her head. Just then, she heard her phone buzzing. She looked at the screen and sighed. “It’s Tony. They are fifteen minutes away,” she said. Cynthia smiled and got up.

“Guess we better hustle then,” she said as she carried the two mugs to the kitchen. Desiree followed her to the kitchen and put on an apron as Cynthia emptied the food into saucepans. The whole point of the day was to trick Rochelle that they had been cooking all day. Not that they were not good cooks but Rochelle lived her life like a Kardashian. She had some kind of self-entitlement that her birthdays had to be super special. Given her own way, she would have had a twenty thousand dollar party just because she could do it. And, true to his word, Tony walked in after fifteen minutes. He was with Rochelle and another man who he introduced as Pete, his old college roommate. Desiree raised her eyebrow when she heard the man speak. He had a clear, precise and beautiful Liverpool accent.

“You are truly a man of your word as far as time is concerned,” Cynthia said. Tony shrugged.