In Her Mind (Mountain High Valley Low ) (14 page)

My heart hadn’t settled since I received the unnerving call about Brian’s accident. After haphazardly exchanging my nightshirt for a tank and some sweat pants, I placed a quick call to Brian’s mother to inform her of the unfortunate turn of events. I had done a decent job of holding myself together until I heard her gasp and cry out “Oh Lord” upon hearing the bad news.

The two of us trotted through the emergency room entrance looking for signs of Brian. The sterile environment sent chills through my body. My heart quickened and my steps hastened. Mrs. Turner kept right at my heels. Collectively our eyes scanned the busy area until I spotted a petite woman behind a desk, shielded by thick, protective glass. Small holes drilled into the glass allowed my voice to filter through to her side. I asked for Brian Turner and she pointed us in the right direction with her small hand.

Various hospital staff guided us along the way until we finally found Brian behind the last curtain. At first I thought my eyes were deceiving me until my brain confirmed that it was indeed little Miss Shelly who sat next to him, rubbing the back of his hand. Brian appeared to be asleep or unconscious. I wasn’t sure which one.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked pointedly. I felt Ms. Turner’s hand grace my shoulder. Remembering her presence, I calmed myself just a little to be respectful. “Well, you can leave now. His mother and Fiancé are here. So good-bye!”

I was proud of my soon-to-be mother-in-law. She had removed her hand from my shoulder and placed it on her hip. The look she laid on Shelly said “You heard the girl! Now get out!” I knew right then that we would always get along just fine. I smiled inwardly and complemented Ms. Turner’s visual statement with a look of my own.

“Hello, Ms. Turner. Lexie, can I speak with you for a moment?” Shelly asked. Ms. Turner never responded.
“Shelly, what could you possibly have to say to me that I would actually be interested in hearing?” I replied, then rolled my eyes.
“I have every right to be concerned about the well being of my son’s father. But that’s beside the point. I need to speak with you privately.”
I looked at Ms. Turner and she twisted her full lips before walking over to Brian, her ample hips swaying as she stepped. Her pantyhose created a swishing sound with every step. She rubbed his forehead then kissed it several times. Shelly was being persistent as she stood there awaiting my answer.
“Damn, Shelly, what the hell do you want?”
“Privacy.”
“Well, you will have to wait. I’m here to see about my fiancé,” I said, then turned on my heels, leaving her to speak to my back.
“I’ve already spoken to the doctor,” she called behind me.
It burned me up that she was there before me, and it irked me even more that she had been speaking to the doctors. As if she had any right to do so. Who told her about Brian being in the hospital in the first place? How was it that she arrived before I did? Her presence raised so many questions. She probably told them that she was the Fiancé. I surely wouldn’t have put it past her. I stopped in my tracks and slowly filled my lungs with air. I let it out just as slowly before continuing to the desk in the center of the emergency room. I asked a nurse about his condition and she promised to have the doctor on duty come and speak with me momentarily.
I took my time getting back to Brian, where he continued to sleep. Shelly’s eyes bore holes in my back, side, and front the entire time.
“Shelly, you can leave now. I could have sworn I told you that already. But I guess you didn’t get me clearly the first time. In fact, it seems like you have a problem with getting messages clearly all the time. Maybe you need to see someone for that. I can give you a referral,” I said before brushing past her to take my rightful place at Brian’s side.
Before she could respond, a tall, light-skinned gentleman approached us wearing a look of sincere concern. As he approached, he nodded at Shelly and me, and then smiled at Ms. Turner at Brian’s bedside.
“How’s he doing?” the man asked.
“Not quite sure yet,” I responded with questioning eyes. The stranger noticed my inquiring gaze and held out his hand to greet me.
“My apologies. I’m Detective Randall Johnson.” I raised my brow. “I was off duty, but I happened to be at the scene of the accident and called it in. I tended to him while we waited for the ambulance to arrive. I just wanted to check in on him before heading out.”
“Thank you so much, detective. This is my fiancé. We’re getting married a week from Saturday. We had just come in from our counseling session with my pastor. Brian went back out to pick up something to eat because we were hungry,” I said as he shook his head with empathy. Shelly had run off. Suddenly, she was nowhere in sight. “I greatly appreciate your help and your concern. In fact, we are waiting for the doctor to come provide us with an update right now. You are more than welcome to stay if you can.”
“You’re welcome, and congratulations! I think I will stick around for a moment. I’d just like to make sure he’s okay. He was hit pretty hard from behind. I saw the black truck slam into the back of him, sending him flying into the busy intersection.”
I was glad to hear that someone saw something. Maybe he could be a witness for when we sue the socks off of whoever it was that hit Brian and ruined my car.
“Do you remember anything about the truck that hit him?” I was hoping he was as observant as most cops are when it comes to taking in his surroundings.
“Sure do. It was a black, late-model Range Rover. I saw the car again when I went out for a smoke a few minutes ago. It was parked near the emergency entrance. Too bad I didn’t get a better look at the woman’s face that was driving the car. I’m usually better at that. I guess I was so concerned about getting to this guy,” he said, gesturing toward Brian. “He really got smacked hard. I can look her up at the station tomorrow since I did manage to get her plate number.”
My head snapped in Ms. Turner’s direction. I wanted to see if she was getting any of this. There was no recognition in her mannerism. It was obvious that she didn’t make the same connection that I was putting together in my mind.
“Excuse me!” I said before rushing past the informative officer. I darted through the emergency room heading straight for the entrance to see if the black Range Rover was still outside, and to check for signs of Ms. Shelly Winston. Both the vehicle and Shelly had disappeared.

Besides a concussion, various aches and pains, and a couple of cuts and bruises, I was lucky to have escaped my accident without any broken bones or other serious injuries. My immediate reaction was to jam on the brakes when Lexie’s car was hit from behind. I hit the brakes so hard, my body came up off the seat and my head slammed into the visor, cracking the mirror inside of it, before I was thrown back into my seat. That was all I remembered. I had no recollection of being hit by another car coming from the opposite direction of the first one, according to what I was told.

All I remembered was waking up in the middle of the night with Lexie on one side of my hospital bed and my mother on the other. They each held one of my hands in theirs as they lay fast asleep in nearby chairs. Lexie’s head rested on the bed beside my leg. I wanted to smile at having the two most important women in my life at my side until I felt the extreme pounding inside my head. I had to pull my hands from their grasps to hold it because it hurt so badly it made my ears ring.

I had been home for a few days and the excruciating headache had been reduced to a duller, but steady, ache. I was even able to manage without my medication. With a week to go, I hoped that this concussion thing would pass by the time I walked down the aisle. As expected, after the counseling session and the accident, things were actually better between Lexie and me. The chances of us actually getting married were pretty high. And with all that we had been through in the past few weeks, it felt good to finally find our groove again. Thinking about her prompted me to give her a call.

“How’s my partner doing?” It felt good to hear her call me partner again.
“I’m good. My head’s hurting, but I’m getting better at ignoring it,” I said.
“Brian! You need to stop that. Just take the painkillers the doctor prescribed,” she pleaded.
“Painkillers are for punks,” I stated simply.
“Yeah, whatever. Your behind wasn’t saying that the day you came home. Really, Brian, don’t sit there and suffer just because you don’t want to be a punk. Take the painkillers. I won’t tell anybody,” she joked. I loved hearing the old Lexie.
“It’s not painkillers that I need right now,” I said and stuck my hands in my sweatpants. My manhood began to rise to the occasion at the thought of Lexie walking through our door.
“Well, what do you need right now?” she asked, picking up on my suggestiveness.
“You have it with you. In order for me to get it, you have to come home.”
“Oh, I see where this is going. Well, I’m almost done with all my running around. I’ll finish up, drop off my sisters and my girls, and head back to you as soon as I can. How’s that?”
“That sounds good. About how long will it be before you get back here,” I asked, getting anxious. I didn’t want to toy with my manhood too much and waste a climax on myself when I had the real thing coming. I pulled my hand from inside my pants and grunted. “I want you to do your best to get home as fast as you can.”
“You got it, babe. Now get your hand out of your pants and freshen up for me. I’ll be there pronto. Bye,” she said, blowing my cover as she hung up.
I tossed the phone to the other end of the couch, threw my head back, and tried to cast off my desires until she arrived. Thoughts of Shelly did the trick as my manhood shrunk back to its normal, well, larger-than-normal size.
I must have fallen asleep when I laid my head back because my sight was suddenly graced with a full view of Lexie’s chocolatecolored body draped in a silky, ivory-colored robe.
“Is this what you needed?” she teased while taking my hand and placing it between her thighs as I lay on the couch.
She opened her legs slightly, giving me more room to explore her inner walls with my fingers. Her head dropped back and her womanhood leaked juices onto my hand. I stroked her gently and a soft purr emanated from her lips. She began to move against my fingers with a slow gyration. As I quickened my pace, she rolled her hips faster. The way she arched her body made me want to kiss the small of her back.
Involuntarily, my free hand found its way to my manhood. I felt someone move my hand and swallow my manhood whole. For a moment I was confused because my finger was still exploring Lexie, who was standing. How could she possibly have her mouth on me as well? The feeling of the warm, moist mouth closed around my manhood caused my eyes to roll back in my head. But something was wrong. I forced myself from that place of ecstasy to look and see who was so skillfully trying to drive me into an erotic frenzy. When I looked down, Shelly’s eyes met mine. She smiled as wide as she could with my penis in her mouth. I jumped into a sitting position, pulling myself out of her mouth.
“What the hell!” I screamed.
Then I turned to look at Lexie who was wearing a tricky, yet seductive smile. I shook my head because I had to be hallucinating, then I tried to push Shelly off of me. But Lexie didn’t seem to be upset. Both women were smiling and touching their bodies. I attempted to pull my hand from between Lexie’s legs but she grabbed it, firmly placing it back between her hairless folds. Then Shelly nearly swallowed my manhood once again. I scooted backwards on the couch trying to get away from Shelly, but she moved right along with me, suckling me like a baby mammal desperate for its mother’s milk. Shelly took me into her warm mouth and refused to release me, tightening her jaws as she milked me like a cow. Lexie held my hand to her center, forcing it back and forth against her most sensitive parts until she began to jerk and pant like a dog in heat.
Neither woman would turn me loose. Shelly rode me with her mouth. Lexie drove herself to a point of sexual euphoria with my hand. As Lexie’s juices spilled over me, Shelly guided me to a lava-like explosion. My body convulsed and my own juices flowed thickly over my manhood.
“I told you we could work it out.” Shelly said, still smiling seductively.
With that, I jumped from the couch, unable to clear my head enough to see with any kind of clarity. The entire room was blurry, then the pain hit me. I yelled from the intensity of it as it radiated throughout my head, my arms, my shoulders, and my legs. Shutting my eyes tightly I tried to regain my focus. When I opened them I was alone.
“Brian! Brian!” I could hear Lexie yelling frantically from the other side of the door as her keys violently clanked against the doorknob. Finally, she burst through the door carting two grocery bags and her oversized handbag. “Brian! Baby, what happened? Are you alright? What hurts?” Within seconds she was by my side.
I was speechless, disoriented. Nothing that had just happened had been real. I stared at Lexie as concerned questions poured from her mouth. My body hurt and I didn’t know how to respond.
“Where are my painkillers?” was the best I could come up with. Lexie laughed and I was relieved. She picked up her packages and hurried to the kitchen. After the sound of cabinets closing, water running, and plastic grinding, Lexie returned to my side with a glass of water and two of my prescribed painkillers.
“Here, punk!” she teased and laughed. “That’s okay. You’re my punk,” she joked as I popped the pills and washed them down with a glass of Brooklyn’s good ol’ tap water.
I laid back for a moment to finish gathering my bearings while Lexie set up a picnic right on the living room floor, complete with placemats, Chinese food on paper plates, and cranberry juice served in wine goblets. After feasting on our tasty spread, we began feasting on one another. I stopped and looked around to make sure no one else was in the room.
Lexie gently aid me back and straddled me. She gave me a seductive show as she removed her clothing, then carefully and painlessly removed mine. Cautiously she lowered herself onto my waiting manhood.
“Wait!” I said, startling her a bit.
“What?” she asked, confused.
“Go get the boots,” I commanded and smiled. Lexie smiled back and lifted herself off of me, causing my manhood to slide out of her canal. She disappeared into our bedroom and returned seconds later sporting a pair of white stiletto riding boots and nothing else.
Lexie stood over me with her legs apart, then smiled and raised her brow. I flicked my tongue and, on cue, she lowered her womanhood to my waiting lips. After letting me taste her essence for a spell, she lowered herself onto my manhood again, careful not to cause too much jolting. Gently, she rode me until our bodies quaked in unison, waves of pleasure surging through us.
We were side by side on the floor catching our breath when my cell phone began to play my latest ring tone. Initially I wasn’t going to answer it, but curiosity implored me to at least see who was calling. It was none other than the one and only Shelly Winston. She had an innate ability to always call or show up at the worst possible times. I pressed the ignore button, sending her to voice mail oblivion, and tossed the phone under the couch. I still couldn’t figure out why she had showed up in my dream.