“Harvey Benjamin Mayes. I have no children that I know of. My attraction is the same. I enjoy men, women and the in between but you are my preference Souxie Lafayette. You have always been my preference from the moment I had you in my sheets. I have a twin brother named Cedric. I have a house, two cars, and a mother who is ready to meet you.”
“Fuck her,” I spat angrily. Harvey smirked with a lick of his lips.
I rolled my eyes again, annoyed that I didn’t see this in the beginning.
“All of those months we slept together during winter break, you and your brother were just plotting on me? You approached me on purpose–––”
“I was hired to investigate the school by Dr. Marvin T. Holmes himself,” he said as he kissed my bruised hand. I attempted to snatch it back, but he held on tight. “Neither of us were expecting Maggie to go missing, or Wilhelmina to die…none of this was supposed to go this way until we stumbled on a bigger case. So we stayed and saw it through. Solomon was the first to figure it out when I traced their financial problems back to him.”
“You used me,” I said, strangely sounding hurt. Harvey must have caught the tone because his brows came together, confused. “I can’t believe I’m actually in my feelings…”
“I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you,” he promised.
“I don’t want to be with you for the rest of my life,” I countered. “Why would I settle for you when I can have any man I want?”
“There won’t be a single man on this earth that will excite you, challenge you, and love you the way that I do. You know this. Any man you get with, he will have to be with me too.”
I smacked his hand away again, but he just continued to hold on to me with a smirky grin, finding all of this amusing.
“We don’t even have the same taste in men Harvey, please…”
“No we don’t. You like ones you can control,” he said as he brought my hand up to his lips to kiss my fingers. “I prefer ones I can dominate.” He leaned in to kiss the side of my face as I closed my eyes with a sniff. I felt like the dainty girlfriend against her hulk of a man who was overprotective of her. “Are you okay my love? With everything? I know it was a lot to take in…”
The sincerity in his voice eased my defense as my body relaxed against his. I looked up, seeing our eyes matching like black pearls when he leaned down to kiss me on the lips.
“I don’t want anything to do with you after this night, and I’m serious,” I said with a sudden turn of my head to look away. He brushed my hair back from my face as if he was fixing me up like his own personal doll. “I’m serious this time, Harvey.”
“Uh huh…”
Harvey kissed my hand again before for a woman to come over. She wore a dark polo shirt with UBI in the corner while smelling of oils and bubblegum, the woman took one look at my hand and nodded.
“This is my wife–––”
“I’m not his wife,” I said as the woman looked at Harvey with a smile, completely ignoring me.
“Your wife? You didn’t say nothing about no wedding, boi. I should call yo mama and have her cuss you something good–––”
“She knows about her,” he said.
“I’m not his wife. I hate him and I have no plans on ever seeing him again–––”
“When is the wedding since my invite must have got’ lost,” she went on as she took my hand in hers. Without warning, her hand began to produce a silk like web between her fingers as her eyes darkened, and split into two, having a set of four eyes before splitting again, creating six eyes blinking at once. She began spinning her hand around mine as the silk web started to wrap my palm where the bloody wound was.
“I’m thinking of a fall wedding, somewhere close to October perhaps. It’s her favorite month,” he said as he looked at me. “I’ll let her plan it.”
“Children?” She asked as she continued to spin her web.
“As many as her body can stand.”
“That’s right…” The woman nodded. Harvey winked at me just as his name was called. When he walked off, the woman began humming cheerfully as she continued to spin her web before cutting her many eyes back at me with a sharp stare.
“I’m not his wife or girl–––”
“You would be a fool not to marry him,” she said under her breath. Her web spun around my hand, covering the wound like a spider wrapping its prey.
“He’s not good for me,” I said with my eyes on Harvey talking to other agents.
“Who are your people?” She asked as she looked at my palm that was nearly covered with the white lump of a web wrapped around my hand. “I can’t place your accent.”
