Jason had just stepped out of the shower when he heard the front door close. He hurriedly towel dried himself and slipped into a clean T-shirt and boxers. He came down the stairs just as Yvette was coming up. Yvette gave Jason a hurtful look. Jason looked into Yvette’s beautiful, hazel eyes...eyes that conveyed hurt, and mistrust. Jason felt a pang of guilt, but quickly shook it off. Yvette would never learn of his indiscretion...never. Jason started in before Yvette could speak.

"Baby, I fell asleep at my mother’s place. You can call her and ask her. Vette, I’m sorry I didn’t call. And when I woke up, I knew you’d be mad and would probably hang up in my face if I did call."

"Jason," Yvette whispered, looking him directly in his eyes. "I don’t want to keep this mess going. You know I’m not going to call up your mother and ask her anything. All I need is for you to be honest and just answer one question, were you layin’ up with somebody or not? I want the truth."

"Yvette, I wasn’t layin’ up with anyone." Jason responded as he descended a few more stairs until he was on the same stair as Yvette. "But I would love to make love to you...now. Yvettte I need you."

Yvette’s glare softened and Jason could tell that a silent truce had been called. He cupped Yvette’s face in his hands and kissed her full lips. He could taste the sweetness of her breath, not artificially sweet, but natural. She opened her mouth slightly granting his tongue permission to enter. He did so, thoroughly, as if exploring her mouth for the first time. Yvette dropped her bags and purse on the steps as Jason worked his way from her lips to her neck, he held her tightly as he slipped off her blue, denim blazer. Jason unzipped the back of Yvette’s pale, blue sun dress. It slid down around her ankles and Jason admired her body as she stood clad in her matching, black bra, lace panties and black sling-back sandals. Jason picked Yvette up and carried her upstairs to their bedroom. He removed her bra and panties and placed his warm mouth all over her body. He sucked, massaged, licked and gently nibbled at Yvette’s nipples as his hands worked frantically massaging her full breasts. Yvette cried out with pleasure, feeling as though she was being swept away by an ocean wave. Her body seemed weightless as layer after layer of tension lifted from her body with every delicious sensation.

Jason gently lay Yvette across the bed where he looked once again into her beautiful eyes. He smoothed her hair, nibbled on her ears and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too," Yvette responded breathlessly as she held on, preparing herself for the sexual journey that lay ahead...it was long overdue.

Jason and Yvette lay entwined in each others arms, completely satisfied and basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking.

Jason clicked on the CD player with the remote that lay on the nightstand. "Jon B" began singing They Don’t Know. Yvette loved that song and Jason knew it. It reminded her of their relationship. "Jon B" went on singing: Put it out ‘ya mind ‘cause it’s jealousy...They don’t know about this here.

Yvette said, "I talked to mama and told her we would come by for the 4th. I told her that we would have to go by your mama’s too. Is she having one of those big Larson BBQ’s in her backyard?"

"Now you know she is. And I’m sure Lamar will be there too with all his little homies tryin’ to come up on a free meal."

"How is Lamar? Is he still with that girl...Tamika?"

"Nah. He got some new thang now. I don’t even know who she is. You might see her on Saturday."

"LaShanda mentioned to me that she had seen Lamar at Cafe Echelon and that he had got into some big argument with some dudes there. I don’t think anything became of it, but nowadays you can’t just go gettin’ into an argument with folks."

"That’s real. I’m always tryin’ to school my brotha but he looks at me like I don’t know what’s what. You know like I’m some old timer or something or like I’m talking down to him. He always goes off into this spiel about me having more opportunities than he did. And you know that’s BS."

"Yeah well Lamar is still young and has a lot of growing up to do. But, it’s today’s young bucks that would rather shoot you than look at you. Hopefully he will wise up soon. But as with anything, the person had to want it for themselves. You can’t impose sobriety on a drunk or maturity on a child."

Yvette and Jason talked well into the night and made love two more times. They hadn’t done that since they were first married. It was almost 9:30 p.m. when they were awakened by the ringing telephone on the nightstand. A groggy Jason answered "Hello", his voice barely a whisper.

"Jason, sorry to disturb you, but the partners would like to meet with you tomorrow morning, say around 10:00 a.m.?" the voice on the other end commanded.

Jason immediately became fully awake at the sound of Patricia’s voice. He took on a more conservative, authoritative tone and answered, "Yes. I think that will be fine. I’ll just need to rearrange a couple of appointments but I will be there at ten o’clock sharp. Thank you for calling."

But before he could hang up, Patricia blurted out "Oh no. Thank you, for the other night."

Jason hung up the phone. "Bitch" he thought to himself.

Yvette had jumped in the shower and was coming out of the bathroom as Jason was hanging up the phone.

"Don’t tell me you’ve got to leave?" Yvette said.

"No baby. That was a call about this new account. They want me to come in tomorrow and finalize the contract." Jason said, somewhat absentmindedly.

"Well that is a good thing isn’t it? I mean you don’t seem as excited as you usually are."

"Nothing. It’s just that this is a big account and a lot is riding on this. If I get it, it would mean our lifestyles could change significantly."

"Well, I think that’s great and you should be happy. I’m sure you’ll get it."

Jason and Yvette ordered a pizza and watched the video Def Jams, ‘How to be a Player’. Jason couldn’t help but liken himself to the character Bill Bellamy portrayed. Just as Jason had, Bill Bellamy had gotten himself into a situation that was bound to catch up with him, the only difference being, that Jason’s circumstances were real. He’d give anything to have last Saturday night’s events be a movie that he could laugh at, erase or dispose of if he wanted to...unfortunately that was not the case.