Howard drove home with a sweltering cloud of frustration growing in his mind. He beat his palms on the steering wheel when he came to a red light. His anger had nothing to do with hurrying home, rather of the missed opportunity he had caught back at Becca's apartment. He never did come clean about what he had wanted her to do for him. It had weighted on the tip of his tongue but somehow saying it, he figured, would have spoiled the moment. Also it kind of felt wrong what he wanted of her. Already she had intuitively read his mind regarding how he felt about April. Reflecting on the night he wondered if opening up about her sex life to him that she did not already grasp what he had concocting on his mind.
Howard made it home and turned off his engine in his driveway. He looked at his phone and only then remembered he had switched it off before enjoying quality time with Becca. He switched it back on, glad not to find any missed calls. He appraised his face in the mirror including his clothes to make sure he had nothing incriminating; not that it mattered. Should April spot anything he could always deflect by admitting he was fulfilling his end of the hall pass she had granted him.
Howard removed his jacket when he got out the car and slung it over his shoulder with briefcase in hand and walked towards his home.
He opened the door and hollered, "April, I'm home." He entered the living room and stopped when he saw someone seated there who looked nothing like his wife. Howard let go of briefcase and so too did his jaw as he stared with numb surprise at the man sitting casually across from him. "You," he gasped.
"Yes, me," answered Olu Shango.
"Honey, is that you?" April's voice called from beyond the room.
Howard looked at April who was just then entering the living room from the hallway.
"There you are," she approached him. "I was a little worried what was keeping you from coming home. Carl has been worried sick about you."
She came and hugged him and they gave each other a quick kiss. April pulled back and gave him a funny look. "You smell different. Did you stop by a strip joint or something?"
"Gee, why didn't I consider doing that," Howard replied before picking up his briefcase. He wanted to say more but then his feature clouded with apprehension as their guest came to his feet. Olu was obviously smirking at him. Howard searched April's face for any sign of treachery but caught no intrusive signal besides the affectious smile that lit her face as she half turned towards their guest.
Olu Shango's aura seemed to fill the room and he walked with benign authority as if he possessed everything around him. Howard felt his penis shrink further inside his pants and he inadvertently swallowed a gob of saliva as Olu's frame appeared to tower over him the closer he got. April was speaking but he did not hear her and so she had to repeat her words.
"I said that Dave came by earlier with his friend here, Olu Shango. He said you two have met before."
"More like a meet and greet," Shango and Howard shook hands. "How are you, Howard. I stopped by Dave's place and he thought you might be home. He tried calling you but got no luck with your phone."
"Yeah, sorry about that. I had a lot of clearing to take care of at work. How long have you been here?"
"Not that long," Shango glanced at April who appeared to blush from their eye contact. This was not lost on Howard. "But it feels longer. Haven't even had a drink yet."
"Oh, I'm so sorry about that," April laughed and turned away from them. "I figured you'd want to wait till Howard gets home. Anyway, you two sit down and get to know each other more while I fetch the beers. Would you care for one, darling?"
"Yeah, sure, honey," Howard said. "A beer would do just fine. Just give me a minute."
He went upstairs and disposed his jacket and briefcase then rushed back. Olu Shango had returned to his former chair, looking right at home with himself. Howard loosened his tie and folded his shirt sleeves as he sat across from him. He watched his guest with the guarded instinct of a fly dodging a spider's web.
"This is a lovely home you have," Olu remarked. "I love the curtains."
"Thank you. Did Dave actually bring you here?"
"He did. How else would you think I'd know where you lived?"
"I don't know, I thought . . . doesn't matter anyway."
April returned with their beers. She kissed Howard and told him she was going upstairs. She shook hands with Olu before leaving. Howard waited till she had gone from view before relaxing somewhat with his visitor. They sipped their beer in silence.
"You have a beautiful wife," Shango said. "Beautiful wife, a cute son and a lovely home. What else can a man ask for?"
"Are you going somewhere with that?"
"No need to act all stiff on me. I'm just giving complimenting and making conversation here. You're sitting there looking surprised about why I'm here, right?"
"I'm curious about that, yes."
"I had me some fun time with Jenny hours ago," Olu said casually. "She's such a great lay; I can't believe I've missed that pussy so long," he chuckled. "You never know how good a pussy is when you haven't fucked it in a while."
"Mind doing me the favour of toning down your language, please? I've got a son upstairs and I'd hate for him to hear any of this."
"Sorry about that." Shango sipped his beer. "So where were you all this while?"
"I told you I was at work."
"Your phone said it was switched off when Dave called. But I'll bet if you'd known I was dropping by you'd have quit whatever work you were doing to get here in record time, won't you? "
Howard didn't respond; his silence spurred Shango to continue with his jibe.
"I caught the look in your eyes when you walked in. You probably thought I'd done something nasty before you arrived, right? Tell me I'm lying."
"The thought did cross my mind," Howard admitted.
"Yeah, you still remember what you saw me doing to that woman friend of mine last time, don't you?" Olu leered. "Won't you love me doing that to your bunny?"
"I think you've had enough of your beer," Howard said. "It's late and I'd like to go upstairs and change."
"Don't try to brush things off the table, white boy," Shango snapped. His voice was not raised but it was audacious enough for Howard to grasp the power it carried. Shango was not smiling anymore.
"I'll leave when I'm done talking, so you'd best hear what I got to say. Least your bunny finds out what you came to see that other night. I'll bet you clued her in on that, have you? Yeah, I thought so. You've got secrets, white boy, and I'm here to collect on them."
"Is this a threat I'm getting from you? Is that it?"
Shango brushed the question aside and came to his feet. "I'm getting tired already. How about we have this chat outside."
Howard dropped his beer and joined him as they walked out the front door and went towards his parked car. He stopped to look back at the front door as if expecting April to stick her head out wondering where they were.
"You went and got yourself some pussy, didn't you?" Shango said to him. "Don't bother lying, white boy. And you don't need say to anything contrary—I can smell it on you."
Howard looked at him and knew it would not be worth lying to a man like Olu Shango. He felt himself captivated under whatever mysterious spell he had over him; from here on, nothing he did or said was going to change that. He would have ample time afterwards to ponder the question of how someone like Shango in the brief period he had known him could enslave his mind like so. Even then the answer would remain elusive to his comprehension.
"What do you want?" Howard asked as if he had no idea what the answer might possibly be, especially since he had been fantasising about it hours ago.
"What I want is your secrets," Shango earnestly declared. "You've got plenty of secrets hiding inside you and I can tell it's eating you up inside. What I want is to give you what your friend already has. But don't worry your head about it right now. You're tired and you need your rest. We'll talk more about it maybe tomorrow or later."
Shango drained what remained of his beer and belched when he was done. "Thanks for the beer," he gave Howard the bottle then slapped his shoulder. "See you around, white boy."
"If you're going back to that apartment why not let me call you a cab."
"That was not my apartment," Shango said as he strolled down his driveway.
Howard watched him go before returning into his home and locked the door.
* * *
"Has your friend gone?"
April threw the question as him as he entered the bedroom. She was in her nightdress with her knees drawn up under the covers while the book she was reading lay open on her thighs. Her face was covered by a facial cream.
"Yeah, he's gone." Howard slipped his feet out of his shoes then proceeded to take off his clothes. He could not believe how tired he felt. His time spent with Becca and his conversation with Olu Shango seemed to have worn him out. "I wanted to call him a cab but he said he was fine by himself."
"That's quite an accent he's got. Dave mentioned that he was from Africa. I forgot to ask what country exactly."
"Nigeria."
"Oh really, how nice. I wonder if all Nigerians speak like that. There was something sexy about the way he talks."
Howard stopped to look at her. He could not tell if she meant that seriously or if that was said to mock him. April resumed her reading while he continued getting out of his clothes.
"I figured you and him had plenty to talk about before I arrived," he said. "Did Dave tell you more about him?"
"Just said that he was an old friend and that he works in the Nigerian Immigration service. You know more about him? He said that you and he were good friends."
"I'd hardly see it that way." He stood up to take off his pants. "I met him on Wednesday night. Dave and I went out for a drive and that was when we met."
"I thought you were alone that night," April said. "You never told me you were with Dave."
"You were asleep when I came back. Anyway, I thought Dave or possibly Jenny might have mentioned him to you already. You and her being best of friends that is."
April fixed him with a glaring stare that seemed to dig knives at Howard's chest. His words were inappropriate, he knew it, but he could not stop it from escaping his lips when it did and he turned around and set about folding away his clothes to avoid her gaze. He knew she was waiting for an apology or something to counter what he had said. When he kept on with his silence, she then spoke.
"I try my best to be honest with you in everything I do. If you don't want to tell me then just say so. And you needn't worry about me asking Jenny 'cos I won't. Won't want to give away whatever secret you and Dave might have. I'm sorry I bothered asking."
Howard went into the bathroom to wash the day off his body as well to avoid whatever heated argument was bound to erupt should he dare respond to her. Inside, he flipped the faucet and felt relief for the burst of hot water raining down on him. He wrestled with his thoughts while scrubbing his limbs and torso.
He could not rid himself of imagining April frolicking with Shango; he should have quitted Becca's apartment earlier than he did. Howard caressed his penis under the water spray and tugged at it as he recalled the exquisite moment he penetrated his secretary's pussy. It was replaced by his previous image of April spreading her legs for Olu Shango to insert his huge cock inside her. Howard grunted with effort as he got busy masturbating to the frantic rhythm of picturing of Shango pounding April's cunt. He pictured April wild with lust, clawing and begging for him to fuck her harder. Howard imagined her cries ringing louder in his ears as he jerked his penis harder while the shower spray washed soap suds off him. He tensed and gulped a mouthful of water as he then sprayed cum against the bathroom's wall. Howard waited till his breathing felt better then cleaned himself up and got out of the shower. He grabbed his towel and exited the shower stall.
He returned to the bedroom and saw April lying with her back turned away from his side of the bed as before; her book lay resting by her bedside. Howard dried himself and wore a pair of shorts and switched off the lights before slipping into bed.
Minutes later:
"April," he called out. He waited and when he got no response called out her name again. "April, are you awake?"
"What is it, Howard?"
Howard thought for a moment, wishing a miracle would occur for him to escape what he was about to reveal but knew that was not going to happen. It was time he bit the bullet.
"That night I returned home late, Dave and I drove to an apartment in the city where we met Shango with some woman. He might seem nice but don't believe what you saw of him today. He's brute of a guy."
April gave no response at first. Then her bedside lamp came on and she turned around to face him and touched his arm. In the short span of time of their distance from each other he had missed her touch more than anything else.
"Tell me more," she said.
Howard did just that. He mentioned everything that had happened that Wednesday night, everything his eyes had seen and his ears had heard, and did not even leave out the part of Dave sucking Shango's cock. Howard could have ended there except he did not think he was done. He described the salacious images he had about seeing her making love to Shango. It was not until he revealed this part that he realised too late he had talked too much. That was when he clamped up, expecting some angry reprisal from April. But instead she drew closer and gave him a deep, lengthy kiss. Her hand reached under the sheets to squeeze his cock. Howard grew hard from her touch.
"You thought he and I had made love before you came home, didn't you."
"Yes, I did. I know I shouldn't, but I . . . I could not help it. A lot of things that's happened between us I can't seem to stop myself from thinking such."
He helped her out of her nightdress and pushed the covers off their body. The love they made was hungry and spontaneous.