Fifty Shades Of Black: An Erotic Romance (7 page)

     Marc
us spoke in a lowered tone, “Is it okay that I introduced you as my girlfriend?”

     “Yes, of course.”
she poured herself a glass of sweet tea.

     Marc
us surveyed the table. “We kind of slipped into this relationship and never really had
that
talk.”

     “Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to see anyone else.”

     “I don’t either. Hell, I can’t. You tire me out, woman, working me over in the bedroom night and day.” Marcus put both hands on his back feigning pain.

     “Marc
us! Shhhh!”

     Marcus bent over pretending to be an old man using a cane. “This woman has tired me out. Someone give me a Vitamin B shot. I need to be resuscitated.” 

     “Stop!” Cherry said giggling and hitting his shoulder.

     “Is he bothering you?”  Marc
us’ mother came over to them.

     “No,” Cher
ilyn said, “he’s just teasing me.”

     “Well, let us tell you something about him.” Marc’s sister, Janelle joined them.

     “No, no, no.” Marcus was laughing, and waving his hands like this wasn’t going to happen. If Cherry had to wager she’d put her money on his mother and sister.

     “Get the book.” Camille said to Janelle.

     “Not the photo album.” Marcus cringed. “Please, Mama, no!”

     His sister returned laughing excitedly, “We can give you plenty to tease him about.”

     Sitting down at the picnic table, Camille took the photo album and patted the area next to her for Cherilyn to sit. Opening the book, she pointed at the first page, “Here he is at one year old, nekid as a jaybird.”

     “
At least jaybirds have feathers,” Marcus grumbled.

     Cherry nudged him, “Cute butt
.”

    
Marcus shifted restlessly. “Mother- do we really need to do this?”

     “I don’t know about you,” she said, “but I need to.”

     “Me too,” his sister chimed in.

     “Me three,” Cherry added
, devilish grin on her face.

     “Out maneuvered by women.” Marcus shook his head, feigning disgust.

     “The way things should be.” Camille declared and pointed to another photo, “Now here Marcus is three, this is his cowboy outfit. A holster and a hat.”

     “And nothing else,” giggled Janelle.

      “Nice gun,” Cherry whispered.

     “Mother, can
’t we put an end to this nightmare?” Marcus tried to take the photo album from her.

     “No whining.” Camille yanked the book back.  “He never liked clothes. His father always said
, ‘That boy is a born nudist.’”

     Cherilyn pushed in closer, “I can’t wait to see his college photos.”

     Marcus slumped forward with his hands covering his face.

     On the drive home Tash
ida regaled them for forty-five minutes about how cute she thought Tad was. But once she drifted off and fell asleep in the back seat, it was like Cherilyn and Marcus were alone in the car.

     “Well, she’s looking a might happier.” Marcus glanced back at Tash.

     “Your southern drawl is coming out.”

     “Has a tendency to do that when I get around family.”

     “You’re lucky, you have a great family.”

     “Hang around with them for
a while you won’t be saying that.”

     Cherry laughed, “I like your family.”

     “Naw, I’m kidding, they’re cool.” Marcus gave a reflective pause “You miss having family.” He said more as statement then a question.

    
Marcus glanced at her when he got no response. He was certain what he said was true, but it obviously made her uncomfortable and she squirmed in her seat. He was sorry for causing that after the day had gone so well.

    
Marcus quickly changed the subject for the rest of the ride home.

CHAPTER TWELVE

The next day
Cherry and Tash sat with Marcus and his family in church. Between all of them they took up two entire rows. The church was hot and filled to capacity, which had more than one woman waving a fan at her face.

     “Let us pray, brothers and sisters, for our enemies.” The voice of
Pastor James rang out loud and firm. He was a short and round short of man and seemed to sway back and forth a bit when he spoke, going up on his toes and up in volume when making key points.

     “Amen,” was heard from many members of the congregation.

     “Pray for them that aims to hurt us in anyway.”

     “Yes, sir.”
Someone called out.

     Cher
ilyn found herself liking the pastor. The congregation became more animated as he continued.

     “Pray that the Good Lord heaps blessings upon them. Blessings, I say. Heap them, Lor
d upon our enemies.” His voice grew louder.  “Heaping piles, heaping loads, heaping truckloads of blessings,” Pastor James was making scooping gestures with his arms,  “Heap those blessings upon the heads of our enemies, them that means to do us wrong and may they be smothered in the Good Lord’s blessings.”

     “Smother them with blessings!”

     “Amen!”

     Marcus whispered to
Cherry, “That’s how we deal with our enemies in the south.”

     Cherry stifled a giggle
, and as Mrs. Black frowned at both of them, she wondered why things are always so much funnier when you’re in church.

     The service seemed to run very long, but no one seemed
to mind or in any hurry to go. Cherry was relieved that Tashida had dressed more conservatively today and seemed in a better mood since meeting Tad.

     When they arrived back at Marc
us’ mother’s house, his sisters and his Mom headed into the kitchen and started preparing food. Cherry stayed to help set the table. Tashida and Tad sat together in a corner quietly talking, actually flirting would be the more appropriate word to describe what they were doing.  Marcus took his nieces and nephews outside to play. Cherilyn felt her stomach rumbling as she watched Marcus chasing the kids and smiled when he caught them, because they all piled on top of him.

     After about half an hour Marc
us came in and looked around appearing confused and angry.  Cherry was surprised to see him upset, realizing she had never seen him like that before. She laid a hand on his forearm, “What’s wrong?”

     Marc
us pulled back sharply as if repulsed by her touch, “Dinner ready yet? What’s taking so long?”

     “I’m sure it will be out soon, you want me to get you something?”

     “I’m not a child,” his voice grew loud, “I know how to get food, you act like I’m helpless.”

     “Marc
us, I - ”

     “Save it.
” His hands were trembling and he was sweating profusely. Camille walked into the room just as Marcus crumbled onto the floor.

     “My sweet baby.” Camille rushed to his side kneeling next to him, to Tad she said, “Get orange juice and sugar.”

     “What’s happening to him?” Cherry hovered, unsure what to do.

     His mother shot
her a surprised glance.  Camille took the juice, put a teaspoon of sugar into it, stirred briefly then started pouring it into her son’s mouth as he sputtered and coughed. “He’s a diabetic, didn’t you know?”

    
Cherilyn felt stupid. “No.”

     “H
e’s having an insulin reaction. His blood sugar has dropped, we need to get it back up.” Camille held his face firmly forcing the juice into him as he weakly struggled against her.

     Cherry couldn’t help the tears that rolled down her face, finding it hard to see him
, a big, strong man, looking so helpless.

     Camille shot her an annoyed glance. “If you’re going to be with him, you’ve got to get used to this - he will need you one day. Can he count on you?”

     Cherilyn heard in her voice the ferocity of mother for her child and beneath that fear.

   
Camille gave her a pointed look obviously questioning whether she had the inner strength. “Marcus has to eat at regular times. If his blood sugar goes low he needs food right away, if you can’t get anything into him you have to call 911.”  She poured more juice into his mouth and the twitching movements stopped.  His body relaxed and the sweating subsided.

     Cherilyn
steeled herself, scared and worried all at once.  Obviously the two hour car ride, a lengthy church service, then back to the house with all the talking, cooking, playing, it had been too long since he ate. If only she’d known. As his eyes opened, he gave her long poignant look before he passed out.

     The drive back to Myrtle Beach was quiet between Marcus and Cherry.  However, Tashida talked enough for all three of them. She was still raving about Tad when they dropped her at the airport.

     Cher
ilyn drove even though it was Marcus’ car. He sat slumped in the passenger seat looking out at nothing but darkness. Once he had eaten Marcus was essentially okay, but still seemed out of sorts and avoiding her. Alone in the dark and quiet of the car, Cherry thought it would be easier to talk. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

     “I don’t want to talk about it.”

     She had to wonder if this was the disease talking, making him crabby or was this who he really is? Had she been fooling herself all along?

     Marcus exhaled a long breath, “I’m sorry, I don’t feel great but that’s no reason to take it out on you.”

     “So can I ask without making you angry, just simply, why didn’t you feel comfortable enough to tell me? An illness is nothing to be ashamed of.”

     “I agree with you, it isn’t anything to be ashamed of, but I didn’t want anyone at work to find out.  I didn’t want to be considered a liability or perceived as unable to do my job in any way.”

     “Okay, so you thought I’d tell? Don’t you trust me?”

     “I wasn’t sure if you’d use it against me. What if we broke up?  You might be angry and want retribution, try to get me fired.”

     His words stung as badly as if he had struck her across the face.  She wished now she hadn’t asked.  She had assumed the reason was embarrassment, but to find out he didn’t trust her at all was heartbreaking. “You think so little of me,” her voice was small.

     “I couldn’t be sure you wouldn’t go after my job.”

     Cherilyn felt like she was in a bad dream, stunned she said, “I wasn’t after your job and I’m not a vindictive person.”

     “I know that now. Still, you’ve been worried about potentially losing your job right?”

     “Yeah.”    
     “How would that have happened? You must have thought me capable of being spiteful or wanting to get rid of you.”

     He was right, even though it felt different when applied to her.  But for Cherry that phase was so early on in the relationship. She thought
by now they had moved beyond that stage and had achieved an understanding.  “I thought, for my part anyway, that at this point we had a bit of trust going on.”

     “You’re right, we did. I should have told you.” Marc
us sounded tired and sad. “Even though it’s nothing to be ashamed of, I still feel like it’s, I don’t know, unmanly I guess or could be seen as a weakness.” His hand shook slightly.

     She touched his arm, “Are you alright?” Cherry asked, panic in her voice.

     Marcus yanked his arm away, angry “See, this is exactly what I didn’t want. I can’t stand to have you look at me differently.”

     Cherilyn
spoke with calculated slowness, “Don’t even ask or expect me to not care about you.”

     “I’m not a kid. I’ve been a diabetic a long time. When I was eight years old I passed out and ended up in the emergency room. That’s when they discovered I was diabetic. I had to learn to give myself shots at that small age.”

     Cherilyn drove into the parking lot of their condo and pulled into Marcus’ reserved space.  Her heart went out to the little boy he was then, not so much to the man yelling at her now. “If you’re okay and don’t need anything, I’ll sleep at my place tonight.”

     The fact that he made no attempt
at all to stop her, hurt more than she could have thought possible.

     He missed her, damn it all to hell. Low blood sugar episodes always left him irritable and on edge. They had been inseparable the past two months sleeping side by side every night. He had gotten used to spooning with her, the feel of her warm, naked flesh pressed up against his. Now half the bed was cold and empty. Marcus didn’t like it.

     It took
a while, sometimes days even, for him to feel normal again. He hadn’t had an insulin reaction that bad in a long time, he was always so careful and the embarrassing way it happened left him feeling humiliated. It reminded him of when he was a child, and the kids at school had made fun of him. Did anyone ever really get over that?

     Marc
us was determined to make it up to her. Roses for a start, maybe buy her perfume, take her out to dinner to their favorite restaurant. Treat her nice and hopefully she’d get over it. He was certain they’d be able to weather this.

     They had their whole lives ahead of them and he sure as heck didn’t want to lose her.