What's Done In the Dark(64)

“Felise, how could you?” he cried. I didn’t miss that, unlike the other day when he accused me of sleeping with some stranger, he didn’t seem angry, exactly. Today, he seemed more hurt. And that hurt my heart.

“It just happened,” I repeated. I did force out a lie when I added, “It meant nothing.”

“So you cheated on me, you hurt me like this, and it meant nothing? Screwing him wasn’t even worth it to you?” he questioned, his voice cracking. “You throw away everything we built over something that meant nothing?”

“We both knew it was wrong. We both swore it would never happen again. Please believe me,” I pleaded.

“Believe you? I don’t know how I’ll ever believe anything you say again. Here I am trying to figure out what’s wrong with me. What I’m doing wrong to the point that you can’t even stomach my touch. And it wasn’t even about me? You were feeling guilty because you slept your best friend’s husband on our anniversary?” He stopped his rant and stood, pensive. “Wait, so . . . d-did you kill him?”

“No!” I exclaimed. “The next morning, I woke up to find he wasn’t breathing. And I freaked out and just left.”

“Oh, this just keeps getting better!” Greg released a pained laugh. “You sleep with him, you cheat on me, and then you leave him for dead? Did you even call for help?”

“He was already dead. I didn’t know what to do.”

He stared through me, totally repulsed. “I don’t even know you.” He headed toward the door. “I wish you were cheating with some random guy.” He spun around to face me. “That, I could handle. That was payback for my indiscretion years ago. I rationalized that. An eye for an eye. But this . . . Our friend? My child calls him uncle!” He shook his head. “I need to get out of here before I catch a case.”

The disgusted look on his face broke my heart. The hurt expression tore at my insides, and the rage in his eyes told me I might have made the biggest mistake ever by coming clean.





45


Felise


I HAD WONDERED IF MAVIS had told her husband, Charles, about my situation. Judging from the look of disdain on his face, I realized she must have.

“Hello, Charles,” I said anyway.

“Umph,” he grunted as he stepped aside to let me in. “Mavis, it’s your sister,” he called out before disappearing back into the den.

Mavis came out of the kitchen, an apron wrapped around her waist. “Hey, lil sis. I was just cooking. What brings you by?”

“I just stopped by to see what you were up to.” I felt so awful about everything with Greg yesterday. I hadn’t slept at all. I’d called in sick to work, and I needed my sister to tell me that I had done the right thing. Not that it mattered now, but I needed to talk to her.

“Just cooking dinner. Phillip will be home for another two weeks before school starts,” she said, referring to my nephew. “You know he doesn’t eat worth anything up at that college, so I’m fixing all of his favorite things, fattening him up before he goes back.”

I glanced back toward the door to make sure Charles was out of sight. “Why did you tell Charles?” I whispered.

She glanced over her shoulder, too, back toward the den, then motioned for me to follow her.

“Girl, I didn’t tell Charles,” she said once we were back in the kitchen. She lowered her voice. “Your husband did. He called Charles last night and told him everything. You didn’t tell me you used Liz’s college money to pay that girl off.”

“I only used some of it. I was going to pay it back. How else did you think I was getting the money?” I asked when I saw the look of shock on her face.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t think about it. But your daughter’s college fund?”

“I was desperate, Mavis.” I didn’t expect my sister to understand. Hell, I didn’t even understand. I didn’t know who this woman was that I had turned into.

She gave me a sympathetic look. “I know how hard this is for you, so I’m not going to beat you up anymore.”

“Greg is pretty upset.” I slid into a seat at the kitchen table.

“You do understand why, don’t you?”

“I do. I just hope he forgives me.” Even as I repeated the refrain that had been running through my head all night long, my heart told me it wasn’t going to happen.

“Well, time heals all wounds, so we’ll see. But don’t you feel better about coming clean?”

I cut my eyes at her. This was one time I probably should have listened to Fran. “No.”