Chapter6

#Chapter6

Friendship?

Carrington

Gloria could only offer friendship, but I didn’t want friendship since I craved more from her. I had to lie to myself and her, claiming friendship was okay with me, but it wasn’t.

I spent time with Gloria, trying to fight the urge to pursue her. It was so damn hard. The more time we spent together, the harder I was falling. How can a woman make this happen? She’s married, for crying out loud.

Gloria talked about different things, and I focused on her. I don’t think many people listened to her.

/"What do you think?/" Gloria asked me.

/"It’s a fantastic idea./" I grinned.

Gloria’s face lit up. /"It’s a dream, but one day, I’ll own a coffee shop. I love people and won’t deal with home./" Gloria sighed.

/"Is it that bad?/"

/"When my husband isn’t drinking, it’s okay, which isn’t often. He wasn’t always that way. When we met, he was a sweet guy. Then, after dating for six months, he would have a casual drink./"

/"And now, he drinks all the time?/"

/"Yeah, but what can you do?/" She shrugged.

Gloria finished cleaning the floor as I crumpled my eyebrows. How can someone like Gloria live with a man that drinks all the time? I didn’t understand it.

/"Are you hungry?/"

Gloria glanced at me. /"I could go for a bite./"

I beamed. Gloria locked up, and we escaped the coffee shop.

We walked to her automobile, got in, and drove to get some food. We pulled through a drive-thru, placing an order of burger, fries, and two pops, and I paid for the food and drinks. Then we drove to a secluded spot to eat.

/"This is nice,/" Gloria mentioned.

/"What is?/" I sipped my pop.

/"Being able to eat a hot meal. Working doesn’t give me much time to cook, and my husband prefers the bottle over making dinner./" Gloria bit into her burger.

/"Why do you deal with that?/" I ate some fries.

/"Where will I go? I don’t have family or friends except for you./"

/"Don’t you have any female friends?/"

/"The females that I speak with, and that’s iffy, are my husband’s friend’s wives. It’s difficult to connect with folks who didn’t grow up as I did./"

I regarded her.

/"One had money. Another came from the middle class. And the third was from the working class. I grew up in poverty. My father drank himself to death, and my mom checked out mentally, landing in the psych ward. I have worked since the age of fourteen./" Gloria shrugged.

I pondered what she had told me. Even though my parents died when we were young, we never wanted for anything. We had money, thanks to our parents and Mason. Gloria’s family subjected her to the life she lives now.

/"For what it’s worth, I ignore where you come from because I enjoy your company. You’re not stuffy like the individuals at school./" I mocked my schoolmates.

Gloria laughed. /"I take it that you don’t like rich people?/"

/"It’s not that. I hate the pretentious nature. Plus, those people need to get the stick out of their asses. I enjoy life. Who prefers to be miserable? I don’t./" I ate my burger.

/"You have a unique way of looking at life./"

/"You don’t understand the half of it./"

/"Then, tell me./"

I told Gloria about my exploits and pranks. She laughed a lot. Most girls would get annoyed by my childish behavior, but she enjoyed hearing about it. I can kid with her, and she gets it. That’s what differentiates Gloria from anyone that I have met. If it weren’t for her marriage, I would make her mine.

I wanted Gloria and could make her happy. She would want for nothing. This husband of hers didn’t deserve her. How can someone discard a woman like her? It made little sense to me.

We finished our meal, then Gloria dropped me off by the coffee shop before heading home. I strolled to the rental house.

When I entered, Joseph met me. /"Where were you?/"

/"I was hanging out with a friend./" I grinned.

/"When did you make a friend?/"

My grin faded. /"Hey, I can make friends./"

/"Is that before or after you get arrested?/"

I rolled my eyes. /"That was one time, and Mason made me do a hard time for it./"

/"It wasn’t one time. Try ten times. You forget I was with you./"

/"I didn’t forget. I ignored the fact that you perched in the jail cell while chanting./"

Joseph shook his head. /"Carri, you don’t hang out with people for the sake of friendship./"

/"I don’t have a choice./" I shrugged.

/"Why?/"

/"Because I’m hanging out with a married person./"

/"Huh?/"

/"It’s a woman, and she’s married./"

/"You can’t be fucking serious?/"

Okay, Joseph’s zen nature flew right out the door.

/"Mason will kill you if he finds out you’re wasting time with someone who’s married./"

/"Then, don’t tell him./"

/"Carri, he will find out. Someone will snitch, and it won’t end well./"

/"I don’t care. I like Gloria./" I didn’t care what he or anyone else thought. Spending time with Gloria made me happy.

But someone would toss a monkey wrench into my plans in the form of my sister, Christine. She was looking for anything to cause me grief, and I didn’t realize she listened to our conversation. She dashed to her room and called Mason to snitch on me.

Christine couldn’t reach Mason because he was dealing with Charles. It seems there was trouble back home.

*****

3rd person

Maggie and Charles had almost made it a year of marriage. Then, he took it upon himself to dally with some girl from work. The woman flirted with Charles. And Charles being Charles, took an interest in the flirtation.

Charles collected a room key in the casino and met the girl in the hotel room. It got heated between Charles and the girl. He was enjoying himself until the staff informed Maggie a key was missing. She thought someone lifted a key to stay free and grabbed the master key.

Maggie opened the room door and caught Charles fucking the girl repeatedly. Yeah, Charles wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, and Maggie almost cut off his dick.

Chaos ensued, and someone placed a call to Mason. He showed up to find Charles partially naked and the girl in her underwear. Yeah, Charles’ actions pissed off Mason.

/"Get dressed,/" Mason ordered Charles and the girl.

Maggie stood there as both dressed.

/"Your services are no longer required,/" Mason informed the woman.

The woman scratched her eyebrows. Two men entered the room and dragged her away.

Charles glanced at his wife and Mason, saying nothing. Maggie left the hotel room.

/"Maggie!/" Charles started after her, but Mason stopped him. /"I have to catch Maggie!/"

/"No, you don’t./"

/"I can’t lose her./"

/"Then, you shouldn’t have fucked another girl who wasn’t your wife. I will fix this mess, along with your so-called deal that you made involving your friends./"

/"What?/"

/"I froze your assets, dumbass. Your part of the arrangement is over./"

/"You can’t do that!/"

/"I can because you’re using the family’s money. I warned you against doing work with the Santiagos, and you didn’t listen. I refuse to lose everything because of it. You’ll be fortuitous if you earn Maggie’s forgiveness./" Mason left the hotel room.

*****

Carrington

I told you my brother was an idiot. I’ll find this information out later. Charles would toss everything away with poor decisions, and I wasn’t too far behind him.

My situation would escalate, culminating in a hard truth. My stubbornness will be my downfall.