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  “It is to me. I want to know the name of the woman who you have deemed my competition, since you seem to think that you can have both of us, single man.”

  David hated his new nickname.

  “Really, I don’t see the point—”

  “Tell me, David. You owe me the whole truth,” Tori said doggedly.

  David hated the way his own words came back to bite him in the butt.

  “Her name is Katrina.” David tried to sound nonchalant.

  Toriyana paused for a moment, thinking real hard, so hard David could hear the wheels turning in her head through the phone. He tried to divert.

  “Toriyana, listen. This thing that I started out here is really nothing at all. We are really just friends. I mean, nothing has—”

  “Katrina! That’s that woman who works at the church, isn’t it? I knew that name sounded familiar.” Toriyana snapped her fingers as her thoughts finally came together.

  David hated that Toriyana had a memory like an elephant.

  “Did you sleep with her, David?” Toriyana hated the whining tone in her voice.

  David hated it too. “No. No. As I tried to explain, we are really just friends. We have never even kissed.”

  Toriyana was surprised by the flood of relief that washed over her. That flood washed away a tremendous amount of anger, which allowed room for the love she felt for David to resurface. She was now confused. Part of her wanted to slam the phone down and never speak to David again. Another part wanted to fly out to Phoenix and snatch Katrina’s hair out of her head. And the final part of her wanted get to Phoenix and convince David that he did not need anyone but her—after she beat the crap out of Katrina.

  Toriyana felt weak in her confusion. This did not sit too well with her. She wanted to stay angry with David. The anger was easier to deal with than the hurt.

  “So at the end of the day, I guess this means it is okay for me to go out with other men since we are both single. Am I right?” She knew David would not be prepared to handle that thought, let alone the reality of it.

  Toriyana was right. David was so furious that his vision became blurry. In all of his rationalizing and spiritualizing about dating other people, he never visualized that Toriyana would even consider doing the same. He tried his best to be reasonable and look at things from a sense of fairness, but his mind would not wrap around the concept. He opened his mouth several times to utter the word yes, but each time he slammed it shut so hard his teeth rattled.

  “I take it from your silence that you don’t like the idea, David. Well, guess what? That’s just too darned bad. You see, I’m just as unmarried as you are, sir. And by the way, I am changing my Facebook status to single. I suggest you do the same, player.” With that, Toriyana hung up the phone, ending the conversation.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The moment William walked into April’s apartment the two of them were all over each other with animal-like lust and passion. All conversations became unimportant. All rational thought went flying out the window. They only wanted to be with each other in the most intimate way possible.

  William lay in bed, cuddling with April. His head was spinning with the wild array of emotions running through it. He tried convincing himself that the swelling in his heart was a result of their wild sex. He tried telling himself that he loved his wife even though he lay in bed with this beautiful woman, sated and content. He rationalized that the unrest he felt, even though April slept peacefully in his arms, was a consequence of his dubious behavior. He attempted in every way possible to make sense of this seemingly senseless affair in order to calm the confusion in his heart and in his brain. But it all kept coming back to the straight fact that he truly cared deeply for April and that she satisfied something in him that Aujanae could not, something that went beyond even the physical.

  At the same time, he loved his wife, who satisfied something in him that April could not duplicate. And for the life of him, he could not put words to what either had that the other was missing. He just knew he needed them both, but both women were of the mindset of all or nothing. Or at least one woman was. The other had outwardly given up on him completely, which should have actually given him nothing more to think about. That should have made things easy, but they were not. He wanted them both.

  He wasted no time trying to figure out how he could possibly have it all, though. He truly believed Aujanae was finished with him, so being with and staying with April seemed to make sense.

  April stirred in William’s arms. She burrowed deeper into his embrace. He instinctively nuzzled closer to her as well, and the two were as close as they could be without being physically joined. Though her eyes remained closed, a smile of contentment crossed April’s face, making William realize she was no longer sleeping.

  “Hey, beautiful. How long are you going to play possum?”

  “I’m not playing possum. I’m just lying blissfully in the arms of the man I love. I’m experiencing a peace that rivals that of joyful sleep.”

  William reached down and lovingly placed his forefinger under April’s chin to raise her eyes to his. “That was beautiful, what you said. It sounded almost poetic.”

  A smile the size of the Grand Canyon spread across April’s face. At that very moment, Aujanae’s features replaced those of the actual woman in his arms. William’s body jerked suddenly, causing an immediate separation between him and April. The fear in his eyes was clearly visible to April.

  “William, what’s wrong? Are you in pain? Do you have a Charlie horse?” April moved near the foot of the bed and immediately began aggressively massaging William’s right calf. “Is it this one, baby?”

  William was glad for the distance April put between them. He took the out she offered and nodded affirmatively as she rubbed his calf. He felt tremendous relief at the fact that she did not correctly read the blatant fear that crossed his features as his wife’s image popped into his head.

  William had never been this confused about anything in his life. When he was with Aujanae, he missed and craved April. When he was with April, visions of his life with Aujanae crept into his mind.

  April gently kneaded the imaginary ache in William’s calf, while William lay wishing she could so easily rub away the very real ache in his heart. William knew the discomfort he felt was a result of the guilt in his conscience weighing on him, crushing any lasting effects of pleasure he may experience with April. He wondered, if he had ended his affair with April and Aujanae was none the wiser about their fling, would he be experiencing discomfort of a different type? It might not necessarily be that of guilt, but regret. What he felt when he was with April was like nothing he had ever felt with any other woman, not even his wife.

  William lay back, eyes closed, wracked with turmoil, wanting to know how long the uncertainty would last.

  April gently, lovingly, woefully rubbed William’s calf. William had assumed she was sleeping contently in his arms before his little episode with the leg cramp. Honestly, he was not entirely incorrect. She started out feeling incredibly gratified to have William back in her life, hopefully forever this time; however, just before his attack, she had begun having an attack of her own. The cramp that gripped his leg had, at nearly the same time, begun gripping her conscience. Would he want to stay forever after finding out that she could have possibly infected him, thusly his wife, with a cancer-causing sexually transmitted disease?

  April still had the option of waiting until she had the cryosurgery in a few days before she said anything to William. She could simply just enjoy their reunion for now and postpone the inevitable for a while longer.

  “April, did you hear me, sweetie?”

  “Huh? No, William. I’m sorry. I was just so engrossed in what I was doing.”

  “Well, I would believe that if you had not stopped doing what you were doing a few seconds ago. That’s what I was saying. I was telling you that you could stop. The cramp was gone. So what were you actually concentrating on so hard?”
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  April crawled back up to the head of the bed and lay her head on William’s chest, trying to find the serenity and joy she found there earlier. After lying for several quiet seconds, she realized that as long as she harbored her secret, that peace was gone. She then pulled herself up into a sitting position and crossed her legs Indian-style in the center of the bed.

  “William, we need to talk. It’s very important,” April said solemnly.

  William slowly pulled himself up against the headboard of April’s bed. He did not like the look on her face or the sound of her voice. A million scenarios ran through his head in the quick span of ten seconds. The two he kept coming back to were either April had decided she did not want to continue further in a relationship with him for whatever reason, or she was going to press him about when the two of them could get married.

  “Okay, April. Tell me what’s on your mind,” he said apprehensively.

  The pensiveness in William’s voice made April quickly reconsider telling him right now. She had no idea what he had conjured up in his own mind, but he actually looked terrified.

  Keep the secret, lose the peace, her conscience echoed.

  “William, there is a good chance that I may have cervical cancer.”

  The frightened look on William’s face frightened April. His eyes bulged from their sockets, and his forehead crinkled in such an extreme way she was sure she would have to heat the iron if she ever hoped to see it smoothed out again. He immediately reached for her, causing her body to unfold in an awkward and painful way as he crushed her to his chest.

  “Oh my goodness, April. Are you sure? How long have you known?” he asked as he continued to squeeze her like a boa constrictor.

  “William, please. I can’t breathe and my legs are all balled up,” April murmured as best she could.

  “I’m so sorry, baby,” William stated as he quickly released April, who clumsily fell back on the bed.

  April righted herself and left the bed to put on her robe. Under better circumstances she could spend all day in the nude with William. Now it just seemed uncomfortable. She also tossed William the matching robe he kept at her apartment. Once she folded her body into the outer garment, she sat in the arm chair near the window instead of getting back into bed with William.

  William got out of bed and put on his robe as well. He then went toward the chair where April sat.

  “No, William. Please, stay on the bed. I need this distance between us right now.”

  William again put on the fright face, but he slowly consented to April’s request.

  “William, cervical cancer is one hundred percent curable, so there is no need for you to look so terrified. According to my gynecologist, if I do have the cancer, it is in its very early stages, so that is a very good thing.”

  William visibly relaxed and sat up a bit straighter on the edge of April’s bed.

  April immediately began wondering how short lived that new look would be once she told him everything. She was now the one to visibly recoil as she folded her legs under her in the chair and pulled her bathrobe closer to her skin. She closed her eyes, but she could still feel William as he got up to again try to comfort her as he noticed her distress. She threw up one hand, silently stopping his steps. He slowly retreated, but made himself as comfortable as possible on the floor at the foot of the bed with his back against it.

  April opened her mouth several times to begin telling William about the HPV, but closed it just as many times as she realized the words she was about to utter sounded corny, dramatic, rehearsed, insincere.

  As William watched April sit there and mutter wordlessly, another thought popped into his head about what she was having such difficulty telling him.

  “April, you’re not pregnant, are you?”

  April lifted her bowed head to find the frightened look had once again returned. If only it were that simple, she thought as she sighed audibly.

  “No, William. I am not pregnant.” She watched the look instantly disappear as William, too, released a loud breath.

  April continued. “I was carrying something a little more menacing than a two-year-old child. William, I found out that I had an STD, a sexually transmitted disease, when I went to the doctor a few days ago.”

  April sat silently as she watched William’s face morph from one expression to another as each phase of recognition hit him. His appearance went from confused to compassionate to angry to full-on terror as complete acknowledgement of what she told him resonated within him.

  April’s expressions changed too each time William’s did. Hers went from remorseful to hopeful to fearful and matched his as it hit the terrified stage; however, she was certain their reasons for being terrified were quite different. William became terrified as he realized her admission could affect his wife, Aujanae. April was terrified because she began envisioning William walking out of her life again, this time for good, shattering her heart into tiny slivers too small to ever piece back together.

  William came to stand in front of the chair where April sat, watching her silently for several seconds. He then bent his body to where he was eye level with April. He touched her face, not gently, but not too roughly either, to get her to open her eyes. When he could see her beautiful irises, he began his questioning.

  “Which disease do you have, April?” The question came out very curt and barely above a whisper.

  April heard him clearly, though. She straightened her spin and sat up a bit in the chair, keeping her legs tucked beneath her. She would not allow William to see her cower, especially not in her own home, in her own bedroom.

  “I have HPV.” She left the clipped reply hanging in the air, well aware that he was probably not very knowledgeable about the disease. She did not count on his next response.

  “What the—How in the world can you sit there so calmly and tell me you have HIV?”

  The question exploded from William’s belly. He grabbed the front of April’s robe, but he released her quickly. He had never before touched a woman violently, and even in his enraged state of mind, as delusional as it may have been, he would not start now. Next he began stomping around the small apartment-sized master bedroom, not getting too far before he began hitting his flailing arms and stubbing his protruding toes on April’s bedroom furniture.

  April jumped from the chair, trying to catch hold of a swiftly moving arm so she could get William calm enough to hear her more clearly. In her attempt to bob her way into slowing him down, she forgot to weave her way out of his swinging limb. She inadvertently caught a strong right forearm to her mouth, knocking her to the floor on the left side of her bed, just missing hitting her head on her solid wood nightstand. April instinctively put her hand to her mouth to check for missing or loose teeth. Though all of her choppers were intact, she did come away with a hand covered in blood from the split and rapidly swelling lip that began protruding from her face.

  William stood stunned for a few moments as he stared down at April squirming on the floor. When he went to reach for her, she snatched away from his attempted grasp. She quickly brushed past him and ran to the bathroom to survey the damage to her mouth.

  April wanted to scream as she saw the deep cut to her upper lip. The only thing that kept her from doing so was the fact her entire mouth had swelled to twice its normal size. She was afraid the sound would get stuck in her throat, unable to move past the grotesque disfiguration on her face.

  William stood in the bathroom doorway, filled with regret as he stared at April’s injury. He was definitely not trying to hit her or hurt her in any way. Despite the anger and fear that still clogged his soul, he knew he needed to help her now. While April stood gawking at her temporarily disfigured face, bleeding all over her fluffy pink bathrobe, William moved into action. He pulled a dark-colored bath towel from the cabinet in the bathroom and wet it with warm water. He moved the hands that April held to her mouth and gently applied pressure to her wounded lips to attempt to stop the heavy bleeding.
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  “April, this cut looks like it is going to need stitches. We need to get dressed and get you to an emergency room.”

  William’s tone was flat and even. Even though he was deeply sorry for April’s injury, he was still too upset to voice an apology. As he pressed the towel to April’s face, he heard her muffled voice trying to say something. He moved the towel slightly to allow her to speak, not sure he really wanted to hear anything she had to say.

  “Willum, I did not slay I had HIV. I slaid I had HPV.” April’s words were slurred as a result of the swelling to her mouth, so William could hardly understand what she was trying to say.

  “What?” he asked, annoyed.

  “I slaid, I . . . do . . . not . . . have . . . HIV.” April slowed her words, speaking them one at a time, hoping William would better understand her.

  “What!” William stated again. This time he understood April, but he was now shocked.

  “What do you mean, you don’t have HIV? April, this is not something to joke about. If you don’t have it, why would you tell me that?” William asked as he held the towel to April’s mouth and moved her back into her bedroom so they could get dressed.

  “I slaid . . . HPV. Not HIV. It’s a slexually transmlit-ted virus that can slead to clervical cancer.”

  William had to piece together what April was attempting to tell him, which was really irritating his already frayed nerves. “Look, let’s just get dressed and get you to the emergency room. We can talk about this more when you make more sense verbally.”

  April was just fine with his proposal. She had talked enough as far as she was concerned. What I have said thus far has already cost me greatly, she thought.

  The cut in April’s top lip needed three stitches to repair. There were two on the inside and one on the outside. Since there were no bandages she could effectively put on her mouth, she would have to walk around for the next few days with the visible evidence of her and William’s current state of affairs.