Read Online Behind Closed Doors by Kimberla Lawson Roby - Free Book Online

but then decided against it and lifted the receiver instead. Just three months ago, she’dplayed a message through her speaker phone only to hear John dictating exact details of what he was going to do to her that night when she arrived home. She’d been loving every bit of it until she’d noticed her secretary standing inside the doorway, with a cherry red face and no obvious sign of movement. The woman had been in a severe state of shock, and Karen had been speechless. What could she possibly have said? Nothing she could have thought of would have corrected it, so it had been better to leave it alone and let it blow over.
    Karen keyed in her numerical password and waited for the messages. The first was from Tammy, her boss’s secretary, saying it was that time of year again and she needed to schedule Karen’s performance evaluation. The last one was from John, saying he was on his morning break and that he wanted a complete reenactment of what had gone on this past weekend. Tonight. Whipped cream, strawberries, Pink Champale, and all.
    That did it. She was never using that speaker phone again. At least not with her door wide open, because John’s messages were way too X rated, and the man was too nasty for his own good. Although, she couldn’t help but admit, she loved it.
     
    “D ON’T FORGET to pick up some of that tropical sparkling water we always get at the store on Roselle,” Karen yelled down the stairs to John, who was on his way out for pizza. Then she switched theradio station from WGCI to V103. She wasn’t in the mood for any gangsta rap and wanted to listen to something a lot more mellow.
    “I won’t,” John yelled back and then went out the door.
    It was only after coming home, tearing their clothes off, and doing exactly what John had suggested on the voice mail message that they’d realized how starved they were. With the exception of the strawberries, neither of them had had a thing to eat since lunchtime. She’d left work at three-thirty so she could meet John at home by four, but now it was almost seven.
    Karen was no remarkable cook, didn’t care to become one, and had no problem with eating carry-out every night of the week. But John, on the other hand, despised consuming anything that wasn’t home-cooked. That is, unless it came from Red Lobster, Bennigan’s or Lone Star Steakhouse. As a matter of fact, today was the first time in a long time that he seemed content with the idea of ordering a pizza, and Karen wondered why he was so willing. But it was obvious. He was still in beg mode because of all the money he’d donated to Arlington’s race track on Friday night. Right now she could probably get him to throw his dirty clothes in the hamper instead of smearing them across the bed in the guest bedroom. Shoot, she could probably even get him to wash dishes every night for the rest of the week and take the trash out without being told.
    V103 wasn’t playing anything she wanted to hear either, so she flipped the radio off and clicked on the television. It would take John at least twenty to thirty minutes to get back, and she figured she’d pass the time by calling her sister, Sheila. She picked up the latest issue of Ebony, then dialed the number. As she hit the last digit of the phone number, she realized Sheila might not be home yet, because today was check day, and whenever that welfare money came, the girl usually flew straight to Wal-Mart and stayed until closing. It had taken Rockford forever to get a Wal-Mart store, but ever since it had, Sheila had become one of their most frequent and loyal customers. There was no more Kmart for her. Girlfriend had moved up in the world.
    “Hello,” Sheila answered.
    “Hey, Sheila. What are you doing at home?”
    “I live here, don’t I?” Sheila said and laughed.
    “Keep getting smart, okay?”
    “What are you and John up to?”
    “Not much. John just went out to pick up a pizza, and I’m sitting here flipping through this