“Yes. I really didn’t like you—well actually I hated you—when I heard about you and…it’s clear why. I have to admit that I was clearly smacked off my feet yesterday when you told me you lived with Azmir. I had no idea.” Tara issues a penetrative glare. I’m curious as to why she’s here. She snorts, “Imagine my surprise when I learned he no longer lived in the same place where I last visited him for the past four years or so.” Then her gaze travels into the distance as she murmurs, much to herself, “I can’t believe how much our worlds have drifted. Then there’s you,” her contemptuous glower returns to me. “…the new girl, who has all of this…” She waves at the office.
Oh, how much the fruit does not fall far from the tree. She’s sounding like her father.
“I swear I paid no attention to the potential seriousness of it until yesterday, when I saw you two…together.”
Hmmmm…
I stand to go and close the door just in case she tries to get slick. “Tara, seeing Azmir and me attempt to settle in after a day’s work hardly qualifies as seeing us “together.”
I return to my seat only to meet her contemplative gaze again.
“Oh,” Tara’s brow rises up her forehead. “I saw you two…together.” She lowers her head at the word.
With my eyebrows narrowed, my head tilts, I ask, “What exactly do you mean, Tara?”
“Let’s not be coy, Rayna.” Tara sighs long and hard, seemingly forcing out her next round of words. “I heard Azmir yelling when I was waiting on the elevator and I went back to the door to try to hear what was going on. I couldn’t, so I tried my luck at opening the door, and to my surprise it opened.” A sinister smile etches her beautiful face. “We came back inside and I tried to listen more, but couldn’t hear anything from the foyer. You know how large that place is.” She scoffs before continuing. “So I went down the hall to your bedroom. I could hear mumbling, but could hardly make out the words, so I left Azina at the door and tiptoed into the walkway of the room. I guess you guys were in the closet, but I could finally make out your words and I listened.”
She pauses to read my reaction. I’m floored at the thought of our privacy being impeded upon.
“Okay,” I urge her with squinted eyes. I want to make clear that she’s saying what I’m afraid she’s saying. I silently pray she isn’t prepared to tell me what seems to be, in slow motion, her direction.
She groans as though she’s wounded. “When I heard him beg you not to leave him, my chest caved in. I couldn’t believe my ears.” Tara’s eye slowly seals. “Never in a million years would I have ever thought I would hear Azmir so vulnerable, so…needy. I’ve known him for quite some time and a part of my issue with him was that he was very reserved and not emotionally expressive.” There’s a pregnant pause as we both measure her last revelation. “Anyway, I thought I was caught when I saw him carry you out of the closet. I had gotten so caught up in your fight that I lost all senses.” Tara shakes her head and places a shaky hand on the side of her nose as she collapses into her hand. “I knew I was crossing boundaries—legal ones, but I couldn’t leave.”
My heart’s pounding in my chest and I catch my head falling back from my neck giving out on me. I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
“Tara, what are you saying?” The world stops spinning on its axis and my bottom lip hit the floor.
Tara scoots up in her chair, with her voice cracking as though she’s trying to keep from breaking down and says, “I saw the two of you together.”
I feel a gut blow.
“Tara. Are. You. Saying. You. Watched. A. Very. Private. And. Intimate. Moment. Between. My. Fiancé. And. Me?” I speak slowly to be clear. I cannot believe this is happening to me.
She exhales before answering. “Yes.” Her shoulders go limp and her eyes dance on the floor below. “I saw him go down on you…like his life depended on it, begging you to stay with him. He told you he needed you. Wow!” She snorts in disbelief. “I saw how naturally and…quickly you responded to him.” Her voice croaks. She isn’t able to control her emotions any longer. My head drops to my chest. I feel violated and exposed. I can hear no more.
“The way he made love to you…” Another pause. I close my eyes, shaking my head at her audacity.
What has become of my life?
Her voice becomes more projected, causing my gaze to rise to meet hers. Her beautiful chestnut eyes are brimming. Tara’s losing control. “It was as if you were his lifeline. I can’t stop wondering if he’d ever had those feelings…or that need for me.” She wipes the increasing flow of tears from her eyes and takes a deep breath. “I remember when things were good and I swear I still can’t recall that type of passion from him.” She pauses. And I can’t breathe. Steeling in my seat, can’t move if I willed myself to. “I can also remember so many times when he asked me to prepare myself for better because he was working for a better life. I didn’t get it. I just thought he didn’t get me. He wants to change me is what I would tell my mom.” At this point, she isn’t giving me eye contact. I can tell she’s rooted in thought.
Is this a come to Jesus meeting?
“When he was with you, he was so desperate.” Shaking her head, she seems broken.