Chapter 22

"So wait, your Mother-In-Law suggested that your wife divorce you?" Naomi asked me. I nodded and grabbed a strawberry. "That's low."

"That wasn't half as bad as having my kids call my wife's friend 'Uncle.'"

"Well, Michael, that's common. You should get used to that."

"No, it's not common. If I brought you over to my house and introduced you to my kids as 'Aunt Naomi,' do you think my wife would get used to that?"

"I don't know."

"She wouldn't get used to it. She'd be pissed. She'd rip both you and me to shreds."

"Michael, I'm not going to lie. There's a difference between men and women." Naomi laughed.

"And what's that?"

"We're territorial."

"So are men."

"Not as much as we are."

"What are you trying to say, Naomi?"

"I'm saying that your wife is only upset because you're sharing yourself with other women when you promised to only give yourself to her. We women are very much in tact with your feelings. Tie territorial and emotions together and that's how you get an angry wife. If we notice a different type of energy around our men, we're going to react to that."

"Naomi, that's deep. Are you an Earthly type woman or something?" I laughed.

"What does the Earth have to do with me knowing that?" She laughed.

"You're right..."

"But no... I studied Psychology in college."

"Ahh, that makes sense." Naomi smiled. "You have a beautiful smile."

"Thanks." She blushed.

"Tell me about yourself, Naomi."

"What do you want to know?"

"Have you ever been married?"

She sighed, "yeah. Once in a blue moon." She looked down.

"What happened?"

"He cheated." Damn.

"So you must hate me, huh?"

"No, I don't hate you. I can tell that you're probably a really good guy, but what you're doing to your wife is pretty fucked up."

"So I don't have a chance with you, do I?"

"Never. We can be friends, Michael."

"Friends..." With benefits.

"I don't want to ruin your marriage."

"You wouldn't."

"Yeah, I would. You couldn't convince me otherwise."

I lifted her chin, "Naomi, when I first saw you, I knew you were special."

"Get outta here!" Naomi laughed. "You say that to every woman you meet."

"...yeah, I do." I laughed. "I'm not gonna lie to you."

"Then why are you saying it to me?"

"Because I can tell you're special, girl. You're somethin' different."

"How so? How am I different from your wife, Kendra, and all the other women you've probably messed with?" Naomi scooted away from me.

"You're smart..." I grabbed her hand.

"I'm pretty sure your wife is smarter than you think."

"You're gorgeous..." I scooted closer to her.

"I'm sure your wife is beyond gorgeous..."

"And I want you to be mine." I leaned in to kiss her. She returned the favor and kissed me back. I pulled her close to me as we passionately kissed.

"Michael... Michael... We- I can't do this." Naomi pushed me away.

"What's wrong?"

"This is wrong in more ways than one."

"How?"

"One, you're married. I divorced my husband, because of the very things you're doing right now. Two, you're with Kendra. I can only imagine how many times you've kissed her. I can't do this, Michael." She stood up.

"Wait. I'm not with Kendra." I grabbed her arm. "I'm with you right now."

"You know what I mean. You're fucking Kendra."

"So."

"So? Michael, that's nasty."

"No. It's a healthy sex life."

"How is that healthy? The only person you should be having sex with is your wife. That's a healthy sex life. You're having sex with your wife and Kendra, who by the way has slept with many men."

"So, you're tryna say I caught something?"

"No. I'm saying you need to stop doing this to your wife before you hurt her and yourself." I rolled my eyes. If I wanted another lecture, I would have "confronted" 1 again.

"You weren't saying all this when you kissed me."

"Duh, I was kissing you. Which, now I regret... I couldn't say anything."

"Actually, you could have."

"Michael... we can't be friends. I'm not going to get myself caught up in your mess." She started walking to her car.

"Naomi, wait." I stood in front of her car door.

"What?"

"I like you. I really do."

"Wow. Excuse me."

"No, really. I like how you're resisting me."

"I bet it's a turn on, isn't it? Excuse me, Michael."

"Just a little." I giggled. "Nah, I won't even lie like that. It's a huge turn on, Gabriella."

"Gabriella?" She made a face. Shit. "You've got more than one girl right now, Michael?"

"No," I shook my head. "I just-"

"I can't believe this. Move."

"I'm sorry. It slipped out. She's an ex."

"Must be pretty recent for you to be calling me by her name."

"No. I usually have numbers for them."

"Numbers?!" Fuck. "So, what am I? Number seven? How many women do you have? You know what? It doesn't even matter. Move." I moved aside as she got in, started her car and sped off. Well. I messed that up. Way to go, Michael I'm not even going to chase after her. She's worth it. Trust me. But I'm not even going to try. I'll call her later. I can't believe I called her, "Gabriella." I never even called 1 by her name. How the hell did that slip out? I don't know how I let that whole number thing slip out either. That was dumb. I went back to sit on the blanket and ate the last of the strawberries. Today has been stressful. And to top it off, I've got a fucking migraine.