When morning rolled around I woke up with a hangover. "Shit," I mumbled to myself. I rolled over on my side and faced Kevin who was sleeping peacefully. I propped myself up on my elbow and softly stroked his hair. I kissed his forehead as he started to stir. Kevin slowly opened his eyes. I continued to run my fingers gently through his hair. "Hey," he said gruffly. I smiled down at him. "Hey yourself." He rubbed his eyes and grinned. "Why are you up so early," he asked as he turned over on his side to face me. "I have a hangover," I snickered. Kevin chuckled. "Me too, yo. It's bangin," he said holding his head for a moment. "Well you gon' have to push through it today, because you have that meeting," I said softly.
"Man, forget about that damn meeting, I just want to spend the day with you baby," he said cupping my face in his hand. He slid closer to me as if he wanted to tell me a secret and then kissed me. I grinned and kissed him back slowly. "What did you have in mind," I asked as Kevin broke away from me. "Well," he said kissing my neck, "I was thinking that maybe we could just lounge around here and do this," he said sliding his hand in between my legs. "And maybe later we can whip up something in the kitchen, pour us a little wine, and do this all over again," he said, his lips finding their way back to mine. "Sounds good to me," I whispered in between kisses. Kevin gave me a few pecks on the lips and reluctantly began to pull away. I placed my hand on his chest to stop him. My hand ran down from his chest, to his waist, to his heavy sex. I grazed my teeth along his neck before giving him a lingering kiss. Kevin tried to pull himself away.
"Mm," he moaned against my mouth, trying to get up, but my kisses wouldn't let him; my hands begged him to stay.
"Baby baby, baby," he laughed, "I have to call my job first." Kevin pulled himself away and peeled the covers back, revealing all of himself to me. I grinned and leaned back with the satisfaction of watching him walk away. He grabbed his pants off of the floor and rummaged through the pants pockets. He pulled out his phone and clicked the power button only to discover that his phone was dead.
"Baby is my charger near you," he asked looking at me.
I checked both sides of the bed. "Nah babe. It's not over here." He looked around the room for it.
"You know what? Check my purse. I think I borrowed it and threw it in there."
Kevin walked over to the chair and rummaged through my purse. "Oh. Here it is," he said pulling it out. As he turned to walk away, pulling the chord with him, my purse fell, spilling out all of its contents. Kevin bent down to pick everything up only to come up with a box of condoms in his hand. He held it up in front of him and looked up at me. "Baby," he started, "Why do you have condoms in your purse? We don't use these."
I sat on my knees. "Well, I know baby, but I bought those for you."
"Huh?" He said with a look of confusion. "Why?"
"After the incident I was just a little apprehensive about sex again and thought that maybe we could start using those when, ya know, we started being intimate again. Of course last night was unplanned and there was no time to grab them but..."
Kevin interjected. "I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time grasping the fact that you thought we needed condoms."
"Well I bought them as more of a safety precaution. I didn't know if we would actually need them." I stood on my knees and crawled over to Kevin. "Kevin will you just come back to bed. We don't have to use them."
"You right," he said as he put his head down. I thought everything was well again until he leaned in closer to the floor. "And what the hell is this?" He said bending down and picking up something else.
I raised my arms in the air and huffed. "What the fuck," I groaned.
"Birth control?" Kevin held it up to me. "Alyssa why do you have this?"
I sat back and sighed. "Kevin," I started.
"I thought you didn't use this!" He opened it up. "And it's several missing!?" He looked at me. "What the hell is going on?"
I sat quietly for a moment trying to gather my thoughts.
"Alyssa!"
I put my hand on my forehead and rubbed it back and forth. "Baby please relax. It's not whatever you're thinking it is. After the miscarriage my doctor gave them to me when I told her I didn't want to have kids anymore. I thought about using them then and again recently after everything that transpired, but both times I couldn't reason with myself on why I should. I mean you know how I feel about them. The only reason why there are some missing is because, I gave a few to Janelle. She had ran out one week and at the time wasn't able to get more."
Kevin sat down at the edge of the bed. He was silent for a while. I crawled over to him and sat behind him. My arms were wrapped around his waist. "Baby," I said slightly leaning over his shoulder, "say something."
"Why didn't you tell me about this? You could have talked to me," he said calmly.
"I---I didn't know how," I said loosening my grip around his waist.
"But I'm sure you could talk to Janelle about it right?"
"Baby. It's not like that."
"So what's it like then," he said standing up. "You're married to me! Not Janelle! If there is a problem you come to me so we can fix it together!" He took a minute. "Okay. So you were unsure about sex; you thought maybe we should use condoms now. Fine! I get that, but you should have come to me! I should have been the first one to know about any doubts you had about our sex life after the miscarriage and the assault. Period. It's as if you don't trust me with your feelings!"
"That's not true," I said dabbing under my eyes. Kevin walked away from me and started pulling clothes out of the closet to wear. "Kevin where are you going," I sniveled.
"Work," he said laying the clothes down on the bed. "I have that meeting remember?" Kevin left out the room and headed to the bathroom to get ready. "Kevin!" I called out behind him. I plopped back onto the bed and groaned. "Well there goes our Saturday," I huffed. "Damn it Alyssa!"
After about five minutes or so I sat up.
"You know what," I said getting out of the bed, "bump that." I grabbed my towel and headed down the hall and into the bathroom. I walked right over to the shower and slid the curtain back. I threw my towel over the shower rod and stepped in. Kevin turned around and looked at me. "I just figured we'd conserve water," I said grabbing my washcloth, "ya know for the environment." He kept washing his body and said nothing. I moved around him and stood under the warm water. Kevin pretended not to notice me. I grabbed the bar of soap from the soap dish and lathered it onto my washcloth. When I started to rub the washcloth over my body Kevin appeared rather annoyed and turned away from me, but I knew it was to hide his erection. I smiled to myself as I continued to lather up. A few minutes later Kevin got out of the shower and left me in the bathroom alone.
After I got out of the shower and finished my usual morning routine, I lotioned up and threw on one of Kevin's old college t-shirts. I left the bedroom, where Kevin still was in fact, and headed out to the kitchen to make breakfast. He could be upset as long as he liked, but I was still gon' eat, okay!
As I put the last of the pancakes on the plate I heard Kevin walk out into the living room. I turned off the stove and walked over to the sink. I filled the pan with hot soap and water. He walked into the kitchen.
"So you really gonna leave the house upset," I asked, my back facing him. "I'm not going anywhere," he said from behind me. I turned around and was surprised to see him dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt. "What happened?" I asked drying my hands off.
Kevin moved closer to me. "I called my boss and told him that I couldn't make it; that I had some things to tend to at home concerning my wife."
I raised my brow. "And he bought that?"
Kevin stuffed his hands in his pocket and shrugged. "He knows we've been having a rough past couple of months. "Oh," I said quietly, nodding my head, "okay."
"Look. I'm not really upset with you, okay. I'm upset with Ron. Losing Aleyah brought us closer together, but what Ron did to you is what took a toll on us and pushed us apart. It had you considering things that you wouldn't have otherwise thought about it; opting out of decisions that we made together as husband and wife. It's been hard dealing with the fact that what he did to you has also impacted us." He took a breath. "Now, moving forward I would like to be the first person you go to when you're unsure about something, especially if it concerns our marriage. Janelle is your bestfriend and I respect that. She's like family to me now, but I am your husband and you have to respect that just like I respect you as my wife. If you decide that you want to use condoms, get on birth control, or I don't know," he shrugged, "have less sex or more of it," he smiled can you promise that I'll be the first to know?" He held out his pinky finger. "Aw," I grinned. "I promise," I said hooking my pinky finger with his. Kevin grinned and wrapped me in a hug.
"I love you baby."
"I love you too."
When we began to pull away from each other Kevin held on to me. He looked at me, searching my face for the desire he felt within himself. When he found it he looked down at the shape of my mouth and the way my lips parted. He leaned in and gave me a few pecks on the lips that led to more passionate kissing. I wrapped my arms around his neck and squealed when he picked me up and sat me on the counter.
I relished in every kiss he gave me. Kevin bent down and began kissing and sucking on my neck. "Damn baby. Are you trynna give me a hickey?" I laughed.
"I'm trynna give you a couple," he mumbled against my skin. I leaned my head back as he kissed the middle of my neck.
"How bout a couple of babies instead," I said getting down from the counter. I reached down in between his legs and grabbed ahold of him. Kevin looked down at where my hand was and back up at me. I bit my lip and grinned. "I can't help it," I said as I stuck my hand in the waistband of his pants. I stroked him slowly.
"You so damn impatient," he joked. "You stay grabbing my shit," Kevin laughed. "That's because it's mine," I said leaning in to kiss him. "Is that right," he said looking down at me. I nodded my head and wrapped my arms around his neck. "Yeah," I said softly just before he tongue kissed me. We started walking backwards out of the kitchen, his hands now gripping my ass. Neither one of us wanted to let the other go. As we headed back into the bedroom there was a knock at the door. We were going to ignore it until we heard that it was the police. Kevin and I pulled away from each other. "The cops," he said to me, "what the hell do they want?" He walked to the front door and opened it.
"Hi I'm officer Wright. I'm looking for an Alyssa Davis that lives here."
"Okay. Well I'm her husband. What is this about? Is she in some kind of trouble?"
I walked up to the front door. "I'm Alyssa Davis. How can I help you?"
"It is believed that your attacker was beat up pretty badly and shot dead this morning. We need you to come down to the police station to identify the body."
My eyes grew wide. I tried to fight back tears. "Wow," I nearly whispered. "Okay. Thank you officer. I'll be down there, um," I cleared my throat and wiped my nose, "as soon as I get dressed."
"Okay. Thank you ma'am. You folks enjoy the rest of your day," officer Wright said as he turned to leave. I walked into the living room to sit down. Kevin shut the door behind him. "You okay," he asked plopping down beside me. I held my face in my hands for a moment. Kevin rubbed my shoulders. I dabbed at my eyes. "I'm okay babe." I stood up. "I'm gonna go get dressed real quick and then I'll be ready."
..
Twenty minutes later Kevin and I were at the police station. They had us sitting in a room with a medical examiner who explained to us the image we were about to see. I flipped the picture over and stared at it. If it was Ron he was almost unrecognizable.
I wiped under my eyes and stood up hastily. "No. This isn't him," I said frustratedly to the examiner. The medical examiner looked stunned. "But Mrs. Davis I can assure you that that's him." I looked him square in his face. "I've seen him naked before. I think I'd be able to identify him now. It's not him." He was surprised by my reaction. "Look. I appreciate the effort on y'alls part, but that's not his body." I scrolled through my Instagram and held my phone up to him. "This is how he looks. This is the man you're looking for." I turned the screen off and put my phone away. "Anyway. Thank you for your time," I said walking away.
"Alyssa wait up," Kevin said trying to catch up to me. "Slow down." By the time Kevin caught up to me I was leaning against his car. "That's not him," I sniveled. Kevin stood in front of me and wiped away my fallen tears. "Baby," Kevin said slowly, "I think that was---"
"No," I said shaking my head. "Don't say it was him," I said breaking down.
Kevin didn't say anything else. Instead he just wrapped his arms around me. "I gotchu mama," he said rocking me in his arms. "I gotchu."
..
Hours after we had gotten home Kevin and I had fallen asleep on the couch. We were awakened by another knock on the door.
After the fourth knock Kevin sat up. He removed his arms from around me and got up to answer the door. He was surprised by who was on the otherside. "Woah," Kevin said stepping away from the door. "Baby what's wrong," I said rubbing my eyes.
Mark walked in with blood on his shirt and a gun in his hand. "Woah," I said with wide eyes. "Mark what happened," I said walking over to him. He was despondent. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a freezer ziploc bag out of the drawer. I opened it up and walked into the living room.
"Mark. You need to tell us what happened so we can know how to help you, but first I need you to put the gun down. Can you do that for me?" He looked up at me. I moved the bag closer to him. "Place your gun in here Mark." He was hesitant. "I want to help you, but you gotta be compliant." Mark slowly put the gun in the bag. "Good," I said encouraging him. I zipped the bag up and sat it on the coffee table. I walked back to the hallway and grabbed a towel out of the linen closet. I spread it out on the sofa. I didn't want any evidence of whatever he had just done to be lingering around the living room. I guided Mark to the sofa. "Sit down and tell us what happened. Try to start from the beginning." I turned to Kevin. "Can you get him some water babe?" He nodded his head. "Yeah," he said making his way to the kitchen. Mark started to talk. "I think I killed a man," he repeated over and over again. "I think I killed a man." Tears were now running down his face as he rocked himself back and forth.
I leaned forward and looked at him. "Mark," I said as calmly as possible, "Who do you think you killed? Talk to us. We're your friends." He was silent. "Mark," I said calling his name again. "Who do you think you killed," I repeated.
"Ron," he blurted out. "It was Ron."
...