ROULETTE OF THE DAMNED 7: Revelations II

I’m almost there…

I have to make it….

So close… so close…

Andrew raced for the elevator as it was about to close. He was on the 32nd floor of the building and he didn’t want to have to wait another ten or twenty minutes before the elevator finally made its way back up to his floor of the building again.

He was leaving the office late because instead of working most of the day, he had been re-living the intense weekend he’d spent with Jiro last week. After Jiro had gotten into bed with him, several moments of rebellion passed during which Jiro cursed him out in every imaginable language possible. Eventually Andrew had gotten tired of his bullshit and had kissed him just to shut him up. That had done the trick. As he lowered his hands, hooked his thumbs in the elastic of Jiro’s pyjamas and pushed down, Andrew had quit breathing. He stayed there, staring and drinking in every inch of Jiro’s naked body. Absolutely perfect in every way. Things happened pretty quickly after that. They had fondled most of the weekend and, seeing as it was Jiro’s first time ever with a man, Andrew had taken it slow with Jiro, intentionally worshipping every angle of Jiro’s body and leaving a trace of hot wet kisses all over his best friend.

It wasn’t long before Jiro took the initiative and retaliated. The moment he got past his bout of apprehension and had held Andrew’s shaft, Andrew knew he was a goner. By the end of the weekend, they hadn’t gotten through any of the movies or video games he’d brought over on Friday. The only time Andrew let Jiro out of his arms was for food; and food had only been a necessary intermission from the weekend’s core activity.

“Hold up the elevator please!” He made it just in time and fell into the elevator, crashing into whoever had held the door for him. The folder containing the contract he was taking home to read through one more time fell to the ground, pages of the document flying in every direction of the elevator.  He bent down to pick up the papers and started apologizing to the stranger who had held the door for him. “I’m so very sorry. I didn’t mean to run into you.”

“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”

Oh God, no, it couldn’t be. Andrew looked at the other occupant of the elevator and found himself staring into Jiro’s handsome face.

“I thought you had gone home for the day,” he said.

“I had to clear my desk,” Jiro said. “Lots of work to do and I didn’t want to take any work home tonight. Besides, I had a delivery that needed to be handed in and I couldn’t go home without getting it out of the way. What’s your excuse? Trying to avoid me?” His voice was teasing.

“Me? Avoid you? Gawd no! I had work to finish and some of it is spilling home with me, as you can see.” He motioned to all the loose papers that were sticking out of the document. He checked to make sure he’d picked up all of them.

30th floor… ding!

29th floor… ding!

28th floor… ding!

27th floor… ding!

Silence…

22nd floor…. ding!

21st floor…. ding!

20th floor…. ding!

19th floor….ding!

They both kept quiet and said nothing.

Andrew breathed in and let out the tension building up in him. He had to say something to Jiro. He really didn’t care what came out of his mouth as long as he got rid of the god-awful silence.

Jiro was ready to burst. He couldn’t stand the quiet another second. He had to say something to Andrew before he lost his mind. I can’t do this anymore. He began turning to face Andrew.

14th floor…ding!

“We need to talk,” both men said the exact words in unison.

The elevator lights flickered and the elevator shook unsteadily. The emergency lights went on and they both knew the elevator had jammed. They were stuck in a jammed elevator on the 14th floor.

***

Mofe’s car swung into the driveway beside Abbey’s parked car. After talking for a while, she kissed him goodnight and watched him drive off before she turned and walked up the pathway to the front door of her house. As she walked into the house, she noticed all the lights in the house were off. Another Friday. Another vigil for her mother. Good thing her mother had made her take her house keys. If not, she would have been locked out.

She wondered briefly where her father was. Maybe he was sleeping. Or maybe her mother had finally gotten him to go to church with her.

Highly unlikely, she thought.

She hadn’t seen his car outside and there was no movement from the house. Maybe he had gone out with his own friends. Or maybe he had parked his car in the garage. He never parked in the garage so it couldn’t possibly be that. So yes, maybe he was out as well.

Fortunately for her, it meant she had the house all to herself. Her date with Mofe had gone perfectly and she was excited beyond belief. He was perfect! Best part, she hadn’t even thought of Jiro all night. Maybe Bukunmi and Edirin were still awake. I need to tell someone about how awesome my date tonight went. I’ll conference call them after I shower, she decided.

She walked up the stairs, her mind on the kiss she had shared with Mofe in his car a couple of minutes ago. His body had felt powerful but gentle when she had melted into him then. He reminded her of a gentle giant. She had to admit to herself that she would give almost anything to re-live that date all over again. That kiss had made her feel like the only girl in secondary school the finest boy wanted.

As she reached the top of the stairs, voices drifted toward her. She stopped, taken aback. She hadn’t checked to see if anyone’s car was in the garage and she didn’t know if her mother had decided to come back early from vigil or not go out at all.

I hope she’s not having one of her notorious migraines, Abbey silently prayed.

More sounds drifted her way, barely audible. Then there was the sound of a female giggling. Mum giggling? Weird! Abbey quietly made her way down the hall.

“You should not have come here tonight,” she heard her father say. “Though I am pleased that you did.”

Abbey stood by the door, her heart thumping frantically. What did he mean by ‘You should not have come here tonight?’

So it wasn’t her mother in there with him then, she realized. Her father actually had another woman in the bedroom with him. How could he be so cruel? So blatant! How could he even think of bringing another woman into the same house and bed that he shared with his wife?

“I’ve missed you,” Abbey heard him say. “It has been a while, has it not?”

The woman moaned. Actually it was more of a purr. The purr had a familiar ring. Abbey shook her head. Familiar? It couldn’t be. The idea that it would sound remotely familiar was ridiculous.

“You are quite a woman.”

“Mmm, and you are quite a man,” the woman said.

Abbey gagged on the vomit that rose to her throat. That voice! I know that voice! It is her.

But she had to see it for herself. She had to…

Abbey shoved the door open and stared at the two naked figures on the bed. “How could you?” she flamed.

Jafar grabbed at the covers. “What the hell are you doing in here?” her father bellowed.

Abbey’s knees were suddenly too weak to hold her up. She leaned against the wall for support, barely able to keep from sinking to the floor. “Dad, why her?”

Edirin hadn’t bothered to try and cover herself. She did however have the decency to look contrite. “I didn’t want you to find out this way,” her best friend said.

Abbey shook her head. Nothing made sense to her anymore. “Edirin, why my father?” she asked.

“I love him, Abbey.”

Turning away in disgust, Abbey ran away from her father’s room, raced to the bathroom, and slammed the door behind her. She crouched on the floor, vomiting uncontrollably into the open toilet bowl. When at last she could stand, she splashed cold water on her face and rinsed her mouth. Then she opened the door to find her father there waiting.

“This will stay between us,” Jafar said.

“Get away from me,” Abbey said with hatred in her voice.

“You won’t tell your mother,” he said in his commanding voice. “Telling her would serve no purpose aside from hurting her. And I know you do not want her hurt.”

Abbey pushed past Jafar, ran to her room, and slammed the door behind her. Seconds later, there was a knock. “Can I come in?” Edirin asked.

“No!” Abbey yelled.

Edirin eased the door open. “Can we please talk?”

“I said HELL FUCKING NO!” Abbey spat as she began to take off her clothes to prepare for her bath.

“Abbey, I have been in love with Jafar for a long time. It is not just sex.” Edirin seemed desperate to make her friend understand.

Abbey took off her bra and stood wearing only her red panties. She turned to face Edirin. “And should that make me feel better?” Her voice was laced with hateful cynicism.

Edirin hesitated in the doorway. “I know it sounds awful… But far the past five years I have –”

“Five years?” Abbey asked in a shocked tone.

“Yes. Five years. I wanted to tell you but I didn’t know how.” Edirin almost sounded apologetic…almost.

“This is lower than low! Get out!” Abbey snarled with enough venom to kill a snake.

“But –”

“Out!”

The door closed quietly. Abbey walked over to the door and locked it. Walking back to her bed, she took off her panties, and collapsed on her bed. She hugged her full breasts with both her arms, tears rolling silently down her cheeks.

***

Jafar stood in front of his bathroom mirror straightening his trousers. Edirin came in, sat on the closed toilet lid.

“Abbey doesn’t want to talk to me,” she said.

“She will get over it.”

“Jafar, I don’t think you understand. She’s really upset. We should have told her sooner, so this wouldn’t happen. I don’t want her hating me because of this.”

“You should have taken that into consideration five years ago.” Jafar replied in a clipped tone.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Edirin asked, shock and hurt evident in her voice.

Jafar sighed. “I apologize for my snippiness. This has been a difficult week, that’s all. Let me handle things. Abbey will be fine.”

“What about Tari?” Edirin said. “God, I feel so guilty but this secret needed to come out. If your wife had just agreed to give you a divorce like you’ve been asking, then none of this –”

“Stop it!” Jafar said as he grabbed Edirin’s arm and yanked her up. “Tari must not – will not – find out about this. About you and me. Is that clear?”

“I wasn’t going to tell her. I just figured, you know, now that Abbey knows…” Her sentence trailed off as Jafar’s grip on her arms tightened. “Jafar, let go of my arm. You are hurting me.”

He released her, cleared his throat, and adopted a softer tone. “I’m sorry. I really am. It’s just that Tari’s state of mind is far too delicate at this time. She wouldn’t be able to cope with all this just yet.”

“I understand,” Edirin said. “But Abbey knows now. What if she tells Tari?”

“She won’t.” Jafar ushered Edirin from the bathroom. “You need to go now though. My wife will be back from the church vigil she went for in a couple of hours. This thing we have – you and me – it will all fall into place when the time is right.”

***

It had been over forty-five minutes and they were still stuck in the elevator. No movement. They had discussed everything from the weather, to sports, to work, to the next public holiday…everything except the weekend they shared.

Jiro was the first to break through the evasion of the topic.

“Is there a reason you don’t want to talk about our weekend together? You have been avoiding the topic all evening. Is there something wrong? Did I not do ‘it’ right?”

Andrew almost laughed at the absurdity of Jiro’s words. “Oh no…Trust me, you did absolutely awesome. I couldn’t have asked for any better.”

“You sure?” Jiro prodded.

“Absolutely. It was amazing. You were amazing,” Andrew said.

For some reason, his words washed relief over Jiro in a flooding torrent. Christ! I can’t believe how much I care about what he thinks about my sexual prowess, he thought. Well he’s been with men before, so he’d know. It a perfectly legitimate question asked to the nearest expert in the field. Nothing more!

“Drew…” he started.

Head resting on the wall of the elevator, Andrew replied, “Hmm?”

“Can I ask a personal question?”

“Anything you want to know, I’ll tell you,” Andrew said honestly. “I’m an open book where you’re concerned.”

“How many men have you been with?” Jiro asked. The thought of another man kissing Andrew the way Andrew had kissed him that last Friday caused a tinge of jealousy to squeeze Jiro’s chest.

“I won’t lie to you…I’ve been with a number of men. I want you to know that even though I have had a lot of men in my life, I take personal safety and health very seriously,” Andrew said, clearly unaware of the turmoil going on inside Jiro. “I take personal safety and health as seriously as I am sure you do too with all the girls you have slept with. Playing around with men and women has its perks but it also comes with its troubles. Even though I always used protection with all the men and women I have been with, I have in the last three years been medically tested numerous times for every known thing in the book…especially because my last relationship with a guy ended in part because the man was married and HIV positive.”

Jiro’s jaw dropped right to the ground.

Written by The Controvert