How Do I Get Out of Here Read online

  Squire could feel the fury in his voice and deep down he knew that he didn’t want any part of what could possibly come next. So Squire went upstairs to let Delight know that Preston was back in the house.

  Preston wasn’t really in the mood for any arguing, but now was at a crossroads as to whether to go upstairs or not. Preston you know you’ve got to fix this thing. Wouldn’t it just be easier to let this other woman go and just go on to reconstructing your marriage? It would be a lot less stressful and you already know that your wife is willing to work things out. You know your dad did the same thing around your age and you see how he couldn’t be around you all of the time, because he was so stretched about between all of your siblings. Please Preston now is the time to do yourself some good.

  As soon as Preston snapped out of his “deep thought” moment via his conscience he saw Delight standing at the bottom of the stairwell. Her hair looked unkempt, eyes swollen like golf balls, and eyes as red as a Chicago Bulls jersey. She looked like a crack head on the street. In all honesty her appearance scared the hell out of Preston let alone what she could possibly do to him.

  Preston looked speechless. It was a good thing he turned off his cell phone and kept it in his coat pocket. Even though Lustray wasn’t talking to him at the moment, he knew that if he were persistent enough he could win her back, just like all of the other ambitions he pursued previously.

  “Um, we need to talk,” Preston expressed clearing his throat. His eyes were wide as a night owl as she approached closer with every step. Delight’s right hand was behind her back and he was not interested in how this was going to play out. So Preston jumped up and maneuvered her towards the ground before she could make any sudden movements.

  “Get off of me dummy,” Delight yelled with her lips rubbing the living room carpet. “All I wanted to do was reintroduce myself. I don’t have anything in my hand. If you were strong enough in the Lord, you wouldn’t have anything to worry about.”

  Preston frisked her pajamas like he was a police officer and found nothing. He let her up slowly, because he didn’t want the kids to think any lesser of him than they already did at the present time. Preston was so exhausted he was already out of breath just from tackling little Delight. Is this what it has really come to? Beating on your wife out of guilt and shame? Preston you are thinking irrationally now and there is a better way.

  “Mr. Brown, you need to take a good look at yourself and find out what you are going to be doing with your life from here on out,” Delight huffed as she rubbed the dust off of her sweaty forearms. “All I wanted to do was shake your hand and reintroduce myself to you.”

  “Reintroduce yourself…..for what?”

  “Because I feel that we need to start over again. The Devil is a liar and I will not let this happen in this household.”

  Preston looked down and shook his head. “Look, girl that is not going to do it right now. Right now I am thinking about my unborn child and how I can provide for him or her.”

  “See what I’m talking about, you keep trying to accommodate for that bitch and your bitch’s child rather than stick up for your own family. You are in agreement slash covenant with me not them!” Delight’s hands started to shake and it was so out of character that it petrified Preston.

  Preston already didn’t like the way things were shaping up so he decided to cut to the chase so that she didn’t pass out on him. Because if she did, he knew that he’d be everything to blame for it. “Alright, Delight. This is what I am going to do. I’m going to be living with Longs for about thirty days so that I can get myself together and to come back as a better husband and father. So tonight I will be packing up and getting things done to make that move.”

  Delight put on an eerie, devilish grin and replied, “You’re not going to Longs, are you? All you going to do is go back over there to your little mistress and try to live in bliss with her.”

  “Well, damn,” Preston pondered. He knew Delight always had good intuition, but not that accurate. But, Preston knew he had to throw something else out there, because to Preston…denial always wins any suspect argument as long as he didn’t give in. “See, see, that is exactly what I’m talking about. You think you know everything and it could never be further from the truth. I’m here telling you I am going on retreat status and that I’m trying to be a better husband and father, but now you want to go back and throw Lustray into this. That’s why we’re in the position we’re in now; because you don’t know how to keep your mouth shut!!”

  “So why are you getting so defensive when I bring her up? Obviously you must have some type of feeling for her,” Delight expressed with an appalled expression.

  “Look, I love her and she loves me, and we’re soul mates. And as you can see she’s not even talking to me so don’t even go there with that B.S. like you know it all. It’s all in your head,” Preston heaved pointing his left index finger to his head.

  “Well, let me just show you a little something about your girl Lustray. First she writes in the letter, loving you as always, then she comes into the house and says she doesn’t want anything from you. Now, does that sound like genius to you? I know, I know I didn’t go to The Ohio State University like the both of you did and that you both never spoke on campus, but wish you did. Look, this is how vexed your mind is because the souls that were mating were you two! So you can take that soul mate bull and fly somewhere with it. I know a woman’s mind and she still wants you even though she told me all of that crap. When she was in her all she could look at were the pictures of you hanging on the living room wall. You ate out her mind with your lies and she probably thinks that you guys are going to get married too.”

  Preston knew this is exactly why trying to work out his marriage with another child outside his marriage would not work. He knew he was not ready to hear all of that day in and day out. He felt she already talked down on him all of the time anyway and if they made up he would be on the lower hand of the marriage for life. He was glad that cell phone was off, just in case she did try to contact him somehow. And just wouldn’t you know, she asked………

  “Preston let me see your cell phone. I want to check something,” Delight briefed holding her hand out.

  “Why do you need my phone? We’re not even worked out yet and all of a sudden you want to demand my cell phone. Girl, I’m a grown ass man and my mom lives on 1818 Stygler Rd., Brotmanville, New Jersey. Get out my face,” Preston mugged her to the side.

  Delight never noticed, but the more demanding she became of Preston the more Preston was ready to leave the entire situation.

  “Hey girl, if you want the phone, you can have it.” Preston handed Delight the phone praying that his word was true. For the moment Lustray didn’t try to make contact with him. Delight opened up the phone and studied it harder than a scientist at NASA. After searching for a little while longer she looked at Preston, put her hand on her hip and asked, “So you thought you were slick by putting her name in as “unknown” so that when the phone rings at home you can just say that it’s some telemarketer calling at the crack of dawn?”

  Once again Preston was almost caught off guard, but he was so poignant at rehearsing every scenario in his head; without losing a beat he fired back, “Well, if you open it up you would see her name listed as an “L” with the number that she gave you when she came to the house. Now!!” Preston wiped the sweat off of his brow in relief, because he knew he was caught for sure but was glad that Delight never knew Lustray’s house number. “Note to self,” Preston pondered “Erase all numbers that may be incriminating and commit to memory like I lived in the 80’s.”

  Delight smirked and couldn’t come back so she just bunched her lips to the corner of her mouth and did her infamous “Uh-huh.” She handed him back the phone and stuck out her hand and said, “Hello, my name is Delight.”

  Preston shook his head again and thought to himself, “This girl done lost all her marbles. That’s what happens when controlling women start t
o lose control of the situation, they get dumber than they already were.” Preston just rolled his eyes into the back of his head and just walked upstairs so that he would hopefully fall asleep immediately. The kids were already sleeping and Preston felt that it was time for him to get some rest before he went off on Delight.

  Preston got naked and jumped into the shower in the master bedroom. The shower was always Preston’s best place to think so being in there was always a safe-haven. He knew that if he could get away from Delight for thirty days that would lead him right into the time he would leave for the summer church internship that he was recently admitted to. In the meantime he would not give Delight any hope, by not being intimate with her and that should give him enough time to try and reach Lustray. In some ways he hoped that his wife was right in that Lustray still wanted him. That would be perfect for Preston. Preston felt that while he’s away it would provide enough time for him to make some money to stock up and save for his own apartment.

  Preston felt great getting out of the shower about his new found thought and his new plan of execution. But just when he thought he was strong there was Delight laying in the bed looking as good as she wanted to look smelling like Chanel number 5 in her white, silk robe. Preston knew he had to be strong, but he knew once he started to protrude from his midsection there was no turning back. Preston looked at the bed and said, “Well, time to dive into combat!”

  VI

  Preston awoke looking directly at the sun shining with Delight laying under him. “Man that was some wild night. Why is the sex always so good when I am in conflict with her,” Preston asked himself. The room was a mess. All of the perfumes were knocked off of the dresser, holes in the walls, scratches all over Preston’s back. The scratches on the back were both a good and bad thing for Preston. Good, because it boosted his ego of being able to handle his business in the bedroom and bad, because if he ever got back with Lustray he would have to explain that to her. But, he wasn’t supposed to do anything with Delight, because he vowed to himself that he wouldn’t be intimate with her. How could he be true to anyone, when he couldn’t be true to himself? Honestly, Preston was so twisted that he was trying to be a one-woman man all over again with two women!

  Preston hoped that she wasn’t expecting a kiss from that whole ordeal. He felt that If he kissed that would promote some unwanted affection and that would not bode well for the scenario he wanted to create.

  “Well at least I can tell when I’m not getting sloppy seconds. The bang is so much better than those lame duck sessions you use to give me. It felt like you were really putting some effort into it this time. See that’s how I know you were cheating, because I was the one doing all of the work while you sat back and snored after a couple of minutes.”

  “Good grief, even after good sex you gotta open your mouth,” Preston huffed. “Well, I’m on my way over to Longs’ house to see if he’ll let me stay over there for awhile and I need to go to the seminary to get some paperwork done for the summer internship I was admitted to. So don’t wait up for me, because I will be moving out of here by tomorrow.”

  “But you already said Longs was going to let you stay there,” Delight shot back alertly.

  Preston knew that she wanted to say more so he got dressed as fast as he could and ran out the door. It was a good thing he already had everything in place for a couple of days, just for the perfect getaway.

  Driving back down the Winchester Pike, Preston called over to Longs. It took a few rings to get a hold of him, but then he finally picked up the phone.

  “Black man, what’s crackin’?”

  “Man I am weak, I am of the flesh. I told myself that I wouldn’t do anything with Delight, but what happens when I get out of the shower? I go back into R.Kelly mode and I’m in the sheets again. I am more disgusted with myself than anything right now. I see some lingerie and it’s game over.”

  Longs couldn’t help but laugh into the phone as he heard Preston spill his guts. “So you mean to tell me that you are trying to resist having sex with your own wife? Bro’ that sounds a little twisted to me, but okay. Where you at man?”

  “On the way to you.”

  “Well come on Lisa at work and we can chat for a little while.”

  Preston pulled into the driveway and walked to the back door wide open. It was such a nice spring day and it felt so gloomy to Preston. Preston felt sick inside like there was something eating him and there was no way to stop it. All of the stress just made his young days feel older by the minute and he didn’t know how long he could hold it up.

  Longs opened the door and his eyes almost jumped out of his head. He couldn’t believe how restless Preston looked after just a couple of days. He led him into the kitchen and sat him down at the long dining room table. “Preston, I know you a man just like me, but at some point and time you are going to have to choose what you want to do, because this playing emotional games is going to get your butt killed someday and that is something I do not want to read in the Columbus Dispatch anytime soon.”

  “How am I playing games and Lustray isn’t even talking to me anymore?”

  “Well just yesterday I got a message from Ms. Lustray and I don’t know how the hell she got my number, but anyway she wanted to know why you made and her kids fall in love with such a fictitious person? I didn’t contact you, because I knew things at home were still a little tender and I didn’t know where your head was at, plus I didn’t want to be responsible for Mrs. Brown chopping you up.”

  Now Preston had some new hope, which did nothing less than amp up his ambitious cycle. It was ashame how a challenge so sick as this would motivate someone like Preston, but that is exactly how the Devil works…Keeping you driving into the middle of nowhere.

  Preston bellied over laughing, “Nah man, she doesn’t want to kill me, because I am the only reason she would have a check. But on the real I think it’s just best that I get a divorce. But, I need to stay here for a few days until I get ready to leave. In the meantime I will just be sitting around waiting for my internship to start so that way I could already be out of the door before I need to get everything else. All I really need is a blow up mattress and a pillow and I am good.”

  “So you really are thinking about getting a divorce? Alright, you know I been through it already so all I can say is be ready for hell my brother.”

  Longs’ words struck a nerve on Preston. Preston hated when Longs told him the truth and especially when it turned out to be serious. For Longs to take something serious it must have been pretty damn serious and Preston wasn’t sure if he was ready for all of that drama, but here it was lying before him.

  Preston scratched his head and asked, “What kind of hell is there you’re talking about?”

  Longs leaned forward and looked Preston dead in the eyes and retorted, “You remember why I missed so many classes our first year in seminary. All of that going back and forth, the suspended licenses for child support, and let’s not mention the attorney fees not to include all of the bills just for everyday life.”

  “But, I was thinking, we are both on public assistance and I’m a student so that wouldn’t beat me all that much and once I’m done school I will be in a better financial state.” Preston felt confident enough to feel that he had it all figured out and that there was no way on Earth that he could lose. “And the other good thing is, we’re in Ohio and that means no-fault divorce baby.” Preston was so excited he was jumping up and high fiving like he was at a Buckeye football game slapping five with people he didn’t even know from a can of paint.

  “So, if you are so sure about divorcing this girl, why is all of your stuff still at the house. Either you are divorcing this woman or not? Like I said I don’t care what y’all do, but if something happens to those kids I will kill the both of you!” It was something about Longs and kids. Preston figured that’s what losing a child would do to someone. To always look out for what you could’ve had if everything always went as we planned.

&n
bsp; Preston felt like he got a little more than what he bargained for and felt that it was time for him to leave and do some more planning. One thing he knew for sure was that he was not going home, because that would be World War III just to try and get out of the door again. So that would just have to wait until the late night. That way Delight would have called everyone she needed to call including his mother and the kids would drain her out a little bit.

  “Hey Longs I got to get to the seminary to try to finish up this class make up and get some of this work done for the church I got admitted into for the summer,” Preston stood up patting himself for his keys and cell phone.

  “Hey, bro’ it’s always good to talk to you and catch up and talk about some real issues. But keep on praying and get yourself straight. I told you a long time ago; I didn’t say not to be a man, but I did tell you not to screw up the marriage.” Wow, those words he told him five years prior were never as real as they were now. Preston just stared at his keys in his hands and suddenly just walked out of the door.

  Driving out of the driveway Preston grew a sudden conviction of bravery and convinced himself that right then and there that God was going to put him and Lustray together for the happiness that they have been created for. He just knew that it was fate that brought the two of them together and after many conversations they had similar spouses, children the same age, and even had the same thoughts that often ended with a jinx ending in laughter.