Another Man's Baby (19 page)

“Jamilla is a hoochie, you’re my wife. Now don’t make me ask you again. Where are you going?”

“I’m going to a movie.”

“A movie?” He narrowed his glare. “Dressed like that?”

“Why not?”

“Mind if I come along?”

“I don’t think you’ll like the picture. It’s a chick flick, a love story.”

“I like love stories.”

“It’s a girls’ night out.”

“Sounds like you don’t want me to come.” He watched while a flash of annoyance crossed her face.

“Look, Eric,” she began, “we’re technically separated. You live your life and I live mine. I’ve filed already for divorce, you have your papers. There is no reason for you to question me about my comings and goings.”

“You’re still my wife.”

“Yeah, right, and that means a hell of a lot, doesn’t it? If you had thought about the fact that you were my husband, maybe none of this would have happened.”

Her voice had turned sharp. She was more than a bit annoyed; it was no longer an act.

“Listen, Eric, why don’t you go back to doing what you were doing for months. Just go back to staying out and don’t come back.”

Eric swallowed around the lump in his throat. “Are you doing what you think I’ve done?”

She glared at him. Annoyed was no longer how she was feeling; she was downright furious. “Why are you so worried about what I’m doing? I’m divorcing you. What I do is no longer your concern.”

“You’re still my wife,” Eric growled.

“Not for long.” Gabi turned slowly, her voice calm, icy cold. “The appraiser’s coming tomorrow.”

“We’re not selling the house.”

“Then buy me out.” Gabi was glaring. She was hurting and she wanted to stop. It had been much too long. Electric currents were running through her body. There was a slight buzzing sound near her right ear. She swiped at it with her hand, not in the mood to listen to voices telling her to have faith. She’d had enough of that. “Why are you still here? Why can’t you just leave?”

“I can’t.”

“You can.” Gabbie glared at him.

“I’m not going to stand by and watch you become a tramp.”

“Now, isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black? You thought nothing of it when you were doing it.”

“You’re my wife,” Eric repeated helplessly, knowing that his words carried little power.

“And this is my body. I’ll tell you this much, Eric. If I am sleeping with anyone it’s because I want to. If I sleep with them twice it’s because they’re getting the job done.” Gabi turned and walked out the door, allowing the anger to take control. How dare he think he could now play the enraged, jealous husband? For a minute she wished Reggie did it for her. If he so much as stirred desire within her, even a little bit, she’d give him some. Too bad for Gabi, she didn’t want Reggie.

Eric couldn’t believe the way Gabi sashayed out the house as if he didn’t even exist. He thought of her with Reggie, and the fury burned in his brain. Yeah right, she was going to a movie dressed the way she was. She’d better hope and pray he didn’t find her at the club. Regardless of what Gabi thought, they were still married. And if he had anything to do about it he intended they stay that way.

It didn’t matter that it had taken this long for the fog to clear. Now that it had, he was beyond thinking he wanted his wife to find someone else. That was a lie, and had always been a lie. He didn’t want Gabi with anyone but him.

Eric changed from his uniform, pushing to the back of his mind the thought that he had been the one to start them on this path. But he was doing as he’d said. He was going to counseling. It didn’t matter that he’d only been once in the past month. That was all the time he had.

***

The pounding music was giving Gabrielle a headache. Clubbing had never been her thing and having to fight Reggie off while at the same time keeping him close enough to use for her plans was wearing her out.

“Girl, you sho ’nuff know you’re fine. Marriage ain’t took nothing from you.” Reggie eyed her up and down. “You could stand to gain about ten pounds though.”

For the first time in a month Gabi laughed and meant it. She’d tried to lose those pounds for years and now that she finally had, wasn’t it just like a man to tell her she needed to regain them? She grinned at Reggie. “Thanks.”

It did feel good to have him looking at her as though she were a tasty treat but that was all it was, a compliment, nothing more.  Gabi didn’t feel the tightening in the pit of her stomach. She didn’t feel her juices flow. She didn’t feel the love.

“Ladies, get your hands together for Chocolate Pudding.”

Reggie touched her shoulder. “I’ll see you as soon as I’m done.”

Done?
Gabi’s mouth dropped. Reggie was a stripper? She hadn’t known. He’d never danced the other times she’d been there. The only thing Reggie had done was serve drinks. This was a new twist. An evil thought took hold. Gabbie turned toward the stage, positioning her chair for a good view, hoping that Eric came while she was watching the floor show.

Reggie gyrated across the stage and Gabi appraised him, very good body, prerequisite six pack and muscles out to yonder. He dropped to the floor and simulated sex acts. Oh Lord, Gabi thought, does this fool think he’s turning me on? It was obvious he was performing for her. Reggie’s eyes were fixed on her as he started crawling across the floor toward her, his tongue making it obvious what he was insinuating. Now she was hoping Eric didn’t walk in at that moment. She wanted to make her husband jealous, not have him commit murder.

Reggie stood and reached his hand out, pulling Gabi’s chair closer to the base of the stage, grinning at her the entire time. He was in front of Gabi presenting quite a view from his vantage point on the stage with her sitting directly beneath him, his package swollen and as far as she could tell, hard. He reached out his hand to touch her and it was all Gabi could do not to move away. She needed him. If she rebuffed him now, he might not be as willing.

When he came so close to her face that she could smell the musk from between his thighs and see the tiny spot of secretion, Gabi moved slowly back and Reggie laughed, making the women go wild and wave dollar bills in the air. Gabi wondered what would make Reggie back off. She fished in her purse for a bill, but he shook his head no very slowly. Then before Gabi could stop him, he was off the stage and grinding his nearly naked butt against any part of her he could get to.

Gabi looked over her shoulder quickly, heaving a sigh of relief when she didn’t spot Eric. She wondered if she would be having fun if she weren’t so miserable. No, she didn’t think she would. She was embarrassed. Mercifully when she finally had the nerve to look in Reggie’s eyes, he got the message, chucked her under the chin and hopped back on the stage, then shimmed his butt for the audience and stood there while they screamed and stuffed money down his G string, all the while rubbing his chest, touching him.

She heard his throaty laugh and Gabi couldn’t help laughing also. Reggie was made for this life. He’d been heading toward it when they were teens. It suited him. Gabi had to admit he had the body and the looks. But she would have given him the moniker ‘Caramel Candy’ instead of ‘Chocolate Pudding.’ His skin was a rich caramel color and his dreads made him look like God’s gift to women. Put that with everything else and almost any woman would be happy.

Almost. But Gabi didn’t want Reggie. She’d always wanted Eric, even when Eric hadn’t wanted her. Now it seemed they were back to that. Her heart sank. It didn’t look as though her husband cared enough to follow her after all. Ten minutes later she was still feeling a bit morose.

When Reggie sauntered from the dressing room, Gabi gawked, wondering why it had taken him ten minutes to come back out dressed in nothing more than the G string he’d left the stage in.

“Reggie, I thought you were changing.” Gabi moved away; she didn’t want to stand this close to him, not the way he was dressed, or rather undressed.

“I was going to change,” Reggie leered at her, “but I’ll probably do better like this for awhile.”

She glanced around the club. “You’re working the room for more tips?”

“No,” Reggie grinned. “I’m only working you.”

“You don’t have to work me.”

“I suspect that I do. Don’t forget we have history together. I know you, baby. I think I have to bring my A game for you, make you see what I’m working with these days.” He ran his hand over his chest and down his abdomen, then reached for hers and placed it on his chest. “How does that feel?” Reggie asked.

Like a sweaty, hairy chest
, she wanted to say but didn’t. Instead Gabi asked, “Can we slow down for a second, let a sister breathe?” It was time to forget her plan and take her butt home.

“Where’s Eric? I can’t believe he lets you come here knowing I work here.”

“First off,” Gabi backed away pretending to pout, making sure to wet her lips, watching him as he gazed at her, tracing them with her tongue, “Eric doesn’t
let
me do anything, he’s my husband, not my daddy.”

“Sho, you right,” Reggie answered. “So tell me, baby, you’re thinking about stepping out on him or what? He ain’t hitting it like he should?”

Gabi closed her eyes to the vulgar question. She wanted to slug Reggie but to answer his question, no, Eric wasn’t hitting it right. He wasn’t hitting it at all. Still, to have another man talk about her personal business made her want to smack the taste out of his mouth. She swallowed the anger and took another step back. “Why don’t you go behind the bar and get me a bottled water and we can talk about it.”
Yeah, right
, she thought.

Why wasn’t Eric following her as she’d done him? The hoochie mamma clothes she was wearing had brought fire to his eyes. Now if only he’d do what came naturally and follow her. She knew he was curious.

She glanced up, saw Reggie coming toward her with the bottle of water and a glass in his hand and at the same time she saw Eric. Damn, this wasn’t the way she wanted it. She wanted Eric to know how it felt to find your spouse all hugged up and touching someone else.

At practically breakneck speed Gabi ran toward Reggie,  pummeling into him and pushing him against the bar. He sprawled over a stool.

“Damn, baby, you must really be thirsty.”

She laughed, going between his open legs but not taking the water from him. She didn’t want his hands on her so keeping them full was a good thing. Her heart was pounding. She could feel her husband’s anger like bullets hitting her in the back. Gabi could hear the still quiet voice within caution her that she was heading for trouble but she ignored it. This was her life and she was going through with it.

“Oh, oh, baby, I think we’ve got company,” Reggie said a moment before she felt pressure on her arm and was pulled away.

***

Eric glanced around the club, the absence of any male customer sending warning bells through him. He paused, listened to the screaming women and his eyes flew to the stage and the gyrating male stripper. A damn strip club. He hadn’t believed it when he’d seen the matches nor when he’d found the information on the Internet and he didn’t believe it now that he was here.

Gabi was at a strip club. When he found her he was going to take her home kicking and screaming if he had to. She was not going to stay in a club filled with a bunch of naked men.

Commotion from across the room at the bar caught his attention. Eric blinked, recognizing Reggie under all the long hair. When his vision completely adjusted to the dim lighting, his heart sank. That couldn’t be Gabi between Reggie’s legs. His confusion turned to blind rage and propelled Eric across the room. His only thought was to get Gabi away from Reggie. He grabbed her arm. “Gabrielle, what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Eric,” Gabi said as though in shock, making her eyes go big and round. She pulled on her top as though to straighten it out. She ran a hand down the front of her tight leather pants and looked down as though checking to see if she was buttoned up. Both men followed the path of her gaze. Eric was glaring, fit to be tied. Gabi covered her mouth with one of her palms and widened her eyes even more, trying to fill them with shock.

Reggie glanced at her and smirked, his eyes telling her that he was aware of what she was doing. She shot him a look, pleading with him not to give her away.