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Text Box: after all these nights of passion, here they stood- the anger in the room was more suffocating than the summer heat outside. Her mouth moving in rapid motion just flapping away reminded Charles of clothes drying on a clothes line back in his hometown of Jamaica. The situation demanded that he be angry, but Charles possessed the ability to transcend the most stressful of situations, and see the humanity in it. Every button he owned was being pushed by Brenda as she tried to lure him into a violent reaction: she doused him with water, repeatedly grabbed his cell phone as he tried to dial 911, and the situation demanded a beat down-the kind you feel in your sleep weeks after it’s been administered. Taking the high road, Charles removed himself from the situation and stepped outside into the humid summer air. Seeking advice, he called his friend Sasha, but she wasn’t much help. She advised him to wait her out because she would have to leave for work. Great advice. The streets were quiet at this time of the morning, but there was chaos in Charles’ house, and he could feel a throbbing headache hurtling towards his temple. Even though he had managed to keep relatively calm, he knew it wouldn’t last for too much longer. In everyone the possibility of violence exists, and it was only a matter of time before it exploded into something uncontrollable. Charles had never been in trouble with the law, and had never even been cited for any sort of parking violations. On this night, when the summer’s heat could make even the most rational person do something out of the norm, this was no time to make an angry woman even angrier than necessary. A phone call from Brenda that morning woke Charles up, but he let it go straight to voicemail. When he retrieved the message later that morning all she said was look under your bed there’s something there for you. Under the bed Charles found a red negligee that didn’t belong to Brenda because it was a size 6 and Brenda was a size 2. He wasn’t sure how long it had Text Box: been there, and couldn’t remember taking it off anyone recently. Charles considered the possibility that maybe this was a trap by Brenda to get him to admit to cheating, but he quickly dismissed that notion. What’s the big deal he wondered to himself. Brenda knew what the deal was, and even if she pretended to be naïve, she knew that it was a physical relationship and that Charles wasn’t a one woman man. During the course of the day, they had spoken and even joked around, so Charles put the incident behind him until now with all of this drama she had brought to his house. “Were you calling that fat bitch,” she angrily accused Charles. She was again invading his space challenging him to remove her. He answered her challenge and met her rage with his anger that he had been suppressing all night. The time for talking was over and one way or another she would be leaving his apartment. Brenda sensing the shift in Charles’ mood from mild annoyance to fury knew she had pushed him too far. All she wanted to do was let him know how much he had hurt her, and perhaps he would acknowledge her pain and make amends, but by the time she arrived at his place only malice was in her heart. She loved with a passion she didn’t know she possessed and the thought of him with another woman blinded her jealously, but finding the negligee this morning was the last straw. He hadn’t covered his tracks and this was too blatant to ignore or forgive. She loved him, but even love had its limits, as she would soon discover. Fearing that she would soon become acquainted with Charles’ fists smashing against her pretty face, Brenda did what any woman would do in a threatening situation she screamed bloody murder, and the last scream got stuck in her throat. She swallowed it because Charles’ hands were wrapped around her throat dragging her across the carpet to toss her down the stairs. Is this how I die Brenda thought to herself? She was fighting for a man who didn’t love her and that misplaced love might be the death of her. Charles wasn’t sure why his hands were wrapped around Text Box: the throat of this woman, and he found himself unable to stop the madness he saw unfolding before it was too late. At the top of the stairs, he lifted her by her throat, and heard a stranger’s voice saying to Brenda,” this is what happens when you’re asked to leave but refuse. Maybe next time you won’t have to be asked a thousand times to leave a man’s house.” Handling Brenda like a ragged doll Charles was about to toss her down the stairs, but the mood of further violence was broken when his cell phone rang. “This is the 911 operator,” a woman’s voice barked in his ear. Is everything okay over there?” Charles had one hand on his cell phone and the other one wrapped around Brenda’s throat so tightly that darkness was fast overtaking her senses. The operator repeated her question, and Charles finally answered that he was trying to make an overseas call and had mistakenly dialed 911. The phone call had broken the spell of the moment, and Charles stared down at Brenda at his feet. He slowly released his grip from her throat, and Brenda coughed a few times to regain her breath. In a moment of sheer madness both their lives could have been irrevocably changed forever, and for what Charles wondered. Brenda slowly got to her feet, and was thankful to still be alive. No man was worth all this aggravation she had been putting herself through for the past eight months. Love should never cause this much pain as she was now in it both physically and mentally. Charles met Brenda’s stare for the last time. Gone was the anger. All he saw now was the pain he had caused her, and the embarrassment she felt for being in such a vulnerable position. Without a word being exchanged they agreed to move on, and she walked down the stairs and out of his life. (6:22pm on 9-5-05)
Text Box: Charles knew that this standoff with Brenda wouldn’t end amicably. She stood toe to toe with him in his apartment even though she was only 5’4, six inches shorter than him. The moment was surreal, and all Charles could think about was how could eight months of fantastic sex turn into this ugly scene right out of a “B” movie. He was cast as the indifferent brooding lover, and Brenda would play the part of the overwrought victimized girl. She had spent the night and left in the morning. He hadn't even heard her leave, but remembered vaguely she had kissed him on the forehead and he had gone right back to sleep. Initially sex with Brenda was average, and would often times cause Charles’ mind to wander to previous encounters so he could enjoy sleeping with Brenda. It wasn't that she was a terrible lover, but her inexperience caused Charles to dismiss her potential that he soon discovered was virtually unrivaled. In the ensuing months of their sexual relationship, the passion that once lay dormant in Brenda was unearthed by Charles and became quickly addictive. Brenda enjoyed the fact that seemingly even though their relationship was based on sex, what they actually shared was closer to lovemaking. The way his touch made her feel as if her skin was on fire, and his hands were the matches igniting her flame. Just the thought of Charles penetrating her sweetness would instantly cause Brenda to get wet at her cubicle. A few times an inadvertent moan would escape her lips, but was always unheard by her surrounding co-workers. A quick run to the bathroom and she would whip out her trusty Pocket Rocket, and it was Charles she felt pounding her pussy into submission as her orgasm raged to be set free from her puss. The men she had given herself to before Charles were all about the conquest, and could hardly be bothered about her pleasure. Charles was different. He paid attention to the smallest detail, and would remember how she moaned when his fingers danced across her back or how it drove her to the brink of insanity when he slid his wet tongue down the left side of her neck. The first time Charles did this to Brenda, her orgasm almost overpowered her senses and it took all her strength not to faint. And now