Page 1 of The Aries Alliance
The Verdict
I openedthe latest email in my overflowing work inbox on my laptop and read the subject line from the Office of Equal Rights,Investigation Findings Report.My breath caught as I closed my eyes. I said a silent prayer, preparing myself for words that would most likely change my life.
“What does it say?” My best friend, Val, whisper shouted the question across the table in the small conference room I reserved for the afternoon at the Ember Falls Public Library.
I glanced out the oversized window on the third floor, which was halfway between my job at Ember Falls University and Val’s at the Ember Falls Credit Union. Unlike the antiquated three-story red brick building with its pineapple yellow cinder block walls and lime green tile where I worked, the library’s modern aesthetic soothed me with its expensive granite and marble walls and floors.
I smiled as a group of high school kids, in navy blue polos and khaki pants, gathered to make volcanic eruptions with baking soda and vinegar in the open courtyard below. Their enthusiasm for science and life in general, reminded me that life wasn’t so bleak.
Ping.
“Hold on, girl.” I raised an index finger to Val and dropped my eyes to my phone as a notification popped up.
LilDavid:
Want me to come through 2night?
I sighed. This was why sneaky links needed to get certificates in sneaky linkdom before they jumped into that lifestyle.
Lil’David Johnston was a sweet, somewhat naive thirty-one-year-old mama’s boy who’d recently moved from Columbus, Ohio. We met when I filed a complaint about rotten meat with him in his job as the manager at the Kroger grocery store near my house. He stood out as an attentive, sensitive guy who hungered to please me. That was why I now had an overstocked freezer full of lamb chops, steaks, and chicken breasts.
To thank him for the meat, I invited him out on a date to Red Lobster. Over Cheddar Bay Biscuits, I asked if he’d ever dated a free-spirited woman who didn’t hold conventional views about men taking the lead in the bedroom. His eyes drooped as he went off on a tangent about a liberal professor named Seraphina who dropped him for a tech billionaire.
Good for her, I wanted to say but, instead, consoled Lil’David with sex at his place. Seraphina’s loss was my gain, because hisHershey’s Kiss dark chocolate body melted in my mouth and my hands. Lil’David’s tongue game had me like putty all night.
At first, Lil’David’s accommodating personality made him endearing. If I needed a back rub or a quick grocery run, he’d serve me without question. Although he spoiled me, his neediness outside the bedroom wouldn’t keep my attention in the long run. I didn’t need a man clinging to me like I was his mama.
But you do need him on your breasts.And your cooch.
I giggled at my joke, causing Val to cock her head and raise her eyebrows as she lifted her head from her phone.
“Give me a minute.” I raised my finger again to signal I needed more time.
Me:
Work stuff has me busy. Hit you up soon.
LilDavid:
Okay.
Me:
Don’t forget to send Mama your morning wood. I need my fix.
I pictured Lil’David frowning like a sad puppy. He did that mess every time I reminded him that I didn’t commit to dudes simply because I invited them between my legs.
He wasn’t the first guy to obsess over me, but dang, if I’d known he was so needy, I would have left his fine, bowlegged tail at Kroger. I couldn’t blame him, though. He’d gotten caught up in the fiery essence of me, the same aura that reeled dudes to me like fish into a fisherman’s net. That was until I threw them back into the Sneakylink Sea.
I held the phone until Lil’David sent me my reward for coddling him.
Yes, lawd.
Everything that made him a man was in his nude photo. The tip of his penis glistened just how I liked it. I sent him a heart emoji and put my phone down. I’d respond to him in more detail later.
“You good, sis?” Val put her phone down, her lips pursed and eyes squinted, a signal that I’d better tell her what was going on before she snatched my phone.
I nodded, almost forgetting Val was here.
