Free So You Call Yourself a Man by Carl Weber Page A

something.”
    She opened the door and slid into the car, no longer grinning. “What’s wrong?”
    â€œI’m married. I have a wife and kids back in Seattle. I thought you should know that.” I didn’t bother to tell her I was moving back to New York, because I didn’t plan on seeing her once my family was here.
    â€œI appreciate you telling me, but I figured as much when I saw your wedding band. I don’t wanna take you away from her, Sonny. I just want to borrow you for a night or two.”
    â€œNo, I don’t think you understand. I’m happily married. I love my wife.”
    She gave me a strange look. “Then what are you doing here? Why did you come?”
    â€œHonestly, I don’t know. Somehow I got caught up in the moment on the dance floor and things got out of hand. You brought out things in me that I haven’t felt in years. Even now part of me wants to take you inside and make love to you all night long. But I can’t, because I love my wife. She and my kids are my world, and I will not give them up for one night of pleasure, even if it’s going to be the greatest night of pleasure in my life. And I’m sure it would be.”
    She lowered her head. “God, I am such a fool. How could I let something like this happen?”
    â€œYou’re not a fool. I’m the fool for leading you on.” I placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.
    She lifted her head and turned to me, her eyes not nearly as angry as I thought they would be. “Now you’re the one who doesn’t understand. I’m the fool because I let you go seventeen years ago. I’ve had one bad relationship after another, men cheating on me, beating on me. All I ever wanted was someone to be my friend, my lover, someone who loves me. I’m the fool because I had all that in you. I just couldn’t see it at the time.”
    I didn’t know what to say.
    â€œGo home, Sonny. Go home to your wife and your family in Seattle. But you tell her I said she better watch her back. If she ever messes up, I’m going to be waiting here in New York to step into her shoes, because she’s the luckiest woman on this earth.”
    She leaned over and kissed my cheek, then stepped out of the car. I watched her walk to her door and thought briefly about chasing after her so we could finish what we had started on the dance floor. Instead, I turned on my cell phone and called my wife to tell her about our dream house and just how much I loved her.

13
James
    It was almost forty-five minutes later when I left Cathy asleep in the house. I’d given her what I called “a sleeping pill”—two orgasms from oral sex and a quickie doggy-style from the back. That put her to sleep every time. I hated the idea of using sex with my wife to get me out of the house, but there was nothing I could do. Once again I was letting Michelle dictate the situation, and it was starting to piss me off because I really wasn’t sure that the boy was my son.
    In spite of the rain-slicked roads, I pulled in front of Michelle’s place twenty minutes after I left my house. I was barely up the walkway when she flung open the door and grabbed the Walgreens bag out of my hand. “It’s about damn time!”
    â€œHow is he?” I asked. She didn’t reply, so I just followed her into the house. When we entered his bedroom, I knew something was very wrong. Marcus’s arms were lying limply by his side and his eyes were glazed. I felt his forehead, and he was burning up. His skin looked dry and his lips were parched.
    â€œHey, little man. You aw’ight?”
    Marcus gave me a weak smile. The dim light in his eyes showed he remembered me. “Daddddy,” he whispered.
    I didn’t respond—I just turned to Michelle, who was opening the Children’s Advil. I wanted to say something, but from the look on her face, it wouldn’t have been