Actions Speak Louder Than Words Ch. 02

I'm so sorry I posted the wrong version this one has some more to it. I was in desperate need of a vacation that's for sure! If you don't want to read the whole story again the part that was missing is right before then end. I deeply apologize, if it makes you feel any better I figured this out at 6am and it made me jump out of bed. Much love and appreciation ~ allisonfancy

Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, where do you keep family?

*****

Alexandros put away his laptop in preparation to land at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. He should have used this flight the catch up on merger and efficiency reports for the companies he was considering either buying or bailing out. Instead he kept going back to the note Nichole left him on the hotel stationary.

He was in Vegas for business not pleasure. He went to personally look at a night club his company was considering bailing out when his driver made a right and not a left. Next thing he knew they were at Tao the club in the Venetian. He decided to go ahead and stop by and talk to a business associate when he spotted Nichole.

He sat in his seat twirling his wedding ring waiting for the descent and landing he was still stunned by the fact that she was a virgin when they met last night. He couldn't deny that the chauvinistic thought pleased him to know he'd been where no other man had. He meant to be gentle with her because she was so petite but when she whispered in his ear he was undone and slammed into her to the hilt. Now he realized how much pain he must have caused her.

But after a few moments she had tapped him on the shoulder and urged her hips forward so that he moved deeper into her tight wet sheath. Just thinking about last night had his pants getting tight. Great! Now he would have to deplane with a massive boner!

He'd have his assistant Beverly send an overnight request to the Nevada Department of Vital Records tomorrow so that it would be there when the county clerk office opened on Tuesday. The official marriage license could be couriered back ASAP with his wife's maiden name and residence listed. Until then he would have to keep himself occupied with work, extra time at the gym, pool and a lot of cold showers.

*****

Nichole sat up on the sofa just waking up from her nap. Alicia would be calling any minute now to see if she's be coming over for Sunday dinner tonight. She was so glad she had decided to take Monday off too because even though she was only in Vegas for three days the time change and hangover had kicked her ass. She'd use tomorrow to do laundry and take the ring to the jewelry store and have it appraised, insured and boxed up for return. "I'd better take it off before I get asked more questions than I want to answer" she took the ring off and put it in her wallet.

Tita Sharon had married Tio Leonardo thirty years ago. According to Grandma Emma Nichole's mother had acted rude and unreasonable when Aunt Sharon brought Tio home to meet the family. Grandma always suspected momma was jealous that he truly loved Tita and treated her the way a man who says he's in love with you should.

Tio was born in Puerto Rico and moved here to the Atlanta area with his family when he was a teenager for his father's government job. He met Tita on a field trip his senior year of college and they have been together ever since. Thirty years of a happy marriage. It's exactly the kind of marriage and love Nichole wanted.

She wanted a marriage built on mutual respect and consideration for the other person's feelings. One built on devotion and trust that went both ways. She needed a friendship, bond, and a connection that would help them work through difficult times. She knew she could take care of herself but she wanted a man that could take care of her emotionally if she ever needed.

Tio resented all of those things and that's why even though he and Tita didn't always see eye to eye, they had a truly happy marriage. They both understood the importance of give and take, compromise, compassion and patience.

Nichole pulled up to her Aunt and Uncle's house and her stomach started growling in anticipation of the delicious dinner to come. She put her bag down the sofa table by the front door and went into the kitchen where she knew she would find her aunt and cousin.

"Come on in and start setting the table honey" Nichole's Aunt Sharon called. The best thing about being southern was Sunday dinner. Tita had prepared all of her favorite's tonight. Ham, baked mac n cheese, yams, collard greens, cornbread, sweet tea and peach cobbler for dessert. Taking tomorrow off was definitely a good thing since she was going to be in a food coma after this meal. Alicia bounced over and gave Nichole a big hug and they started grabbing plates and silverware to start setting the table.

While Alicia began to fill Nichole in on the latest drama at work. One of nut ball nurses she and Alicia worked with finally snapped and was acting all erratic in front of the head nurse, something she usually reserved for just them. The nurses on the floor were all considering mixing Addarall and Valium into her daily morning smoothies to see if it would help to balance her out.

Alicia was laughing and saying that now the head nurse may now be in on it too; when Nichole noticed that there was an extra place setting.

She rolled her eyes in the back of her head and thought "Oh hell no you have got to be kidding me!" "I guess didn't say it in my head because Alicia just looked at me like a deer before the car hits." Nichole thought to herself "No wonder Tita cooked all my favorite food she had invited Jezebel herself to dinner."

Tita didn't know the specifics of what happened she just knew that Corina and Nichole had a big falling out and weren't speaking. Which in itself was an understatement since Nichole didn't even want to be in the same room with Corina. As much as she wanted to confide in her aunt for advice Nichole didn't feel the need to tell her that her daughter was an unscrupulous back stabbing, "I justify shit to suit my needs" kind of whore.

Corina on the other hand would never tell her mother anything but her achievements. Corina had struggled through high school even with the tutors her parents paid for and dropped out of college sophomore year. Nichole and Alicia on the other hand attended college together, pledged Delta together and both graduated magna cum laude.

Corina came walking through the door like she was ready for the club instead of Sunday dinner. At the exact moment she walked around the corner, Nichole lost her appetite and started developing an instant migraine. "I'm going to need a long island not a sweet tea" She thought as Corina sashayed towards the dinner table like everything was completely ok.

Nichole stopped fixing her plate pushed her chair back and started making her excuses and telling everyone goodnight. She hugged Alicia and told her that she would see her Tuesday at work and they would talk about her trip then. Aunt Sharon scrambled to get up and beg Nichole not to leave. "Tita you know I can't stay but Corina is your daughter and she should be here for family dinner."

I grab my purse and walk out of the front door. Before I can close the door Corina with a sly smile on her face stands up and says "There's no need for you to go running out of here, I can't believe you're even still mad." And then walks out behind me closing the door.

Nichole sighed heavily and look up to the sky trying to summon the strength of Jesus, Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama not to knock her cousin flat on her ass right here on the front porch.

Tio and Tita had worked very hard to buy a house in a respectable neighborhood. "I'm pretty sure they don't want me mowing the lawn with Corina's face especially with the neighbors outside"

"What part should of this should I not be mad about Corina? The fact that you lied to me, Oh! Or the fact that you were sleeping with my fiancé in my apartment? You're right Corina I should thank you for letting me see what kind of man I was about to marry you saved me the long term heart break and the headache of a divorce."

Corina crosses her arms and says "He still loves you, you know? Maybe if you had fucked the man this wouldn't have happened. You've made that man wait for four years and he couldn't wait any longer. He was very upset when you called off the engagement"

"Corina do you hear yourself? He was upset!?! How do you think I felt coming home from class early and finding you in my apartment, in MY bed with MY fiancée? Please tell me what's so wrong with waiting for marriage? I refuse to end up like momma. No one can have love at first sight that many times. She always ends right back at grandma's house needing to be taken care of until she can mend her broken heart and fall in love all over again! No steady job, no plan, no future and I refuse to be anything like that"

Corina shifted her weight to the other leg and putting her hands on her hips and said. "Looks like trying to have it all cost you Malcolm but I will gladly fill your Louboutin's and your side of the bed in his brand new condo." Nichole was about two seconds from snatching the Indian Remy from her cousin's head when Tita opend the door and stepped out with some plates packed for Nichole to take home in case she got hungry later.

Nichole grabbed the plates from Tita and kissed her on the cheek while telling her to kiss Tio for her. She turned on her heel down the steps, off the porch and to her car. If Aunt Sharon hadn't come out the door with the to-go plates she would have lost it on Corina for sure.

Nichole's aunt and uncle had been a god send when her mother had decided that she was in love yet again and ran off with 'the love of her life" and didn't want a kid weighing her down. She moved in with them when she was twelve and had never looked back.

They took her in without complaint, loved her, provided for her and Tio even taught her Spanish (so she could keep up with his Spanglish). They never treated her like a burden and she didn't want to be. She mowed grass, babysat and tutored people for extra money so that in the summer she could go to summer school and take extra classes without having to ask Tita and Tio for the money.

She applied and got into a school with a 4x4 schedule instead of an even odd schedule. She also gave up electives like chorus and band so that she could add more core classes to her schedule. She had worked like a dog to graduate at 16 (a whole two years early since her birthday was late) and went to Emory for her RN degree.

She participated in work study, got pell grants and signed a six year work obligation scholarship with Grady Memorial Hospital to pay for her student loans, online courses and the two year Registered Nurse Practitioner classes at Emory. She had to work one year at Grady before they would start paying for the RNP classes and had six months of RNP classes left and three and a half more years of work obligation left.

She still lived in the same one bedroom apartment that she leased her junior year of college and with the exception of her 2013 Beetle convertible and a new bed she had saved every penny. When her work obligation was up she planned to move. She hadn't figured out where but she would of course always come back to visit Tita, Tio and Alicia. As far as Corina is concerned to hell with her

*****

Nichole came home and threw her keys in the bowl by the door, put the plates in the fridge and made her way to her bedroom. Ugh! Her luggage was still on her bed and she would have to clean it off before she could get in and try and sleep. She took the luggage off her bed and carried it into the kitchen to sit by the stacked washer dryer combo. She opened the suit case to separate wash vs. dry clean.

Nichole pulled out the mini dress she wore the Saturday night and smelled it. It still smelled like Alex/ Burberry Britt one of her favorite male colognes. Nichole decided to hang her "wedding dress" in the closet. She got into the shower letting the warm water flow over her body. Nichole closed her eyes started thinking about how all this happened. Why she was in Vegas in the first place.

She had gotten out of class early for St. Patty's day festivities and most of students and professors usually went by party bus to the city center for the pub crawl. The Spanish medical terminology professor had let class out early, actually all she did was assign more terms to study and take up last week's assignments 101 min class lasted all of about twenty minutes which was a relief because she wanted to get home and take a nap and shower before Malcolm took her out for dinner tonight. She looked down at her cell it was only two o'clock plenty of time for a good nap. Nichole sent a quick text to Malcolm letting him know that she had gotten out of class early and that she couldn't wait to see him tonight for their date.

They also needed to sit down and finalize the guest list and pick out invitations for the wedding. They were getting married in less than three months June 4that 9:00 am she had wanted it early because it would be hot and she didn't want Alicia, Corina, and herself to melt in their dresses.

Nichole walked up to her apartment and smiled seeing Malcolm's BMW parked in the visitors spot. She fished her keys out of her messenger bag and unlocked the door dropping her keys in the bowl like she always did. She was about to hang up her bag when she heard a noise. "I know Malcolm isn't trying to get me to watch porn again, how many times do I have to tell him it's not going to convenience me to have sex with him before the wedding."

She decided to creep up to the door and startle him saying something along the lines of "Are you taking notes for our wedding night?" When she got outside of her bedroom door the moans got louder, too loud and realistic to be her crappy TV. She slowly pushed her door open and what she saw made her heart drop to her stomach making her feel sick.

There was Malcolm plowing into her cousin Corina from behind. He was smacking her ass and asking her how much she liked being his bitch in heat as his cock pistoned in and out of her. Corina was moaning and writhing while gripping the sheets off the corner of the bed and telling Malcolm how much she like what he was doing to her. Malcolm's grunts began to keep pace with his movements, Corina's legs began to shake and her back started to bow, Nichole pushed open the door and almost too calmly in a voice just above a whisper said "Get the fuck out of my apartment."

She felt like she was in the movies where the women always yelled and screamed and kicked. Nichole couldn't find her voice to scream out loud. She was numb and couldn't even think of what she should be feeling. Pretty sure what she was experiencing was shock, standing there screaming in her head "I don't even have sex in my bed!"

Malcolm looked like he'd seen a ghost and damn near pushed Corina off the bed. He scrambled off the bed and ran towards the door where Nichole was standing. Corina picked up her clothes and got dressed and exited the bedroom squeezing past Nichole on the way out. She picked up his keys and told him she'd be waiting for him in the car.

Malcolm opened his mouth to no doubt try and come up with an explanation for what happened but before he could Nichole just raised her hand and pointed toward the door and said "She's waiting for you and just so we're clear the wedding is off and we are done. I never want to lay eyes on you again ever! I'll give your stuff to Alicia and she can give it to "her" she said looking towards the door."

She took off her engagement ring and tried to put it in his hand. When he wouldn't take it she made a mental note to put it in his box of stuff. She knew arguing with him about keeping the ring might send her over the edge and beating him to a pulp no matter how good it might make her feel wasn't worth her nursing license.

Nichole opened her eyes after recalling the incident six weeks ago and a cold shiver ran down her spine even in her steaming hot shower. She had been in a funk ever since the incident and after two weeks of moping around Alicia without her knowledge put in for Memorial Day weekend off. It got approved of course because she never asked for time off and everyone knew what a bastard Malcolm had been to her. Alicia decided her pity party was over and booked her a flight and hotel. She even waited until Thursday night to tell her so that she didn't have time to really sleep on it.

She could hear her cousin's voice now, "You need this vacation, you're the definition of all work no play" "I know but I just don't want to meet other people at this point, maybe in Janurary when I graduate from Nurse Practitioner School and pass my boards. I'll be ready to commit to one of your get me fixed up schemes you subject our other sorority sisters to."

Alicia laughed and said that she would hold Nichole to it but in the mean time she was going to Vegas no ifs ands or buts. Besides she said. "The best way to get over one man is to get under another!" Nichole squeeked and said that's how she got into this situation, someone getting under a man!

Her cousin even drove her to the airport late Friday morning. Nichole thanked Alicia for the much needed respite and offered to pay her back and Alicia responded "That's what cousins are for?" Nichole secretly suspected that Alicia was embarrassed that it was her sister that had done her favorite cousin wrong. She also knew that if the girl had turned out to be someone else that knew that she was engaged to Malcolm Alicia would have fucked her up on site.

The worst part was the fact he hadn't even bothered to use a condom. Not only did he not care about his body her didn't care about her body either, sleeping with Corina of all people. That girl that uses the "Plan-B" pill like plan A. Sometimes I think she has aspirations to get pregnant by some rich ball player or rapper so she can live off of child support for 18 years. I think the only man she's ever been exclusive and faithful with is her hair dresser and he's gay!

OMG! Speaking of safe did she and Alex use condoms? He seemed intelligent and responsible. She tried to search the recesses of her mind but she couldn't remember. She would run the standard swabs on Tuesday morning and she was glad that she had started birth control a month ago in preparation for the wedding. She was using the nuvaring on the three in a row schedule so she would be have a cycle every nine weeks instead of four and that appealed to her. Who wants to deal with Aunt Flo monthly? She had just changed out her ring Thursday night before her mini vacation and wasn't due to have her cycle for another three weeks. She thank god for that small concession.

*****

Alexandros just finished doing his laps in the pool and was striding through the house in his flip flops with his towel slung low on his hips. The house phone rang and he wondered what could have happened at the company for someone to be calling him at almost 1 am. He walked to the end table and looked at the caller ID and saw his mother's cell phone number.

"Geiá sou agapi̱tí̱ mi̱téra" (Hello, dear mother) "Geia sou yiós (Hello son) I hope I didn't wake you I forget about the time difference when I'm here in Corfu it's almost 8:00 am here." "No mom I was still awake I couldn't sleep I just got finished doing some laps in the pool, trying to clear my head."

"You work too hard you're not even thirty yet and at this pace you're going to be grey before you have the chance to find a wife. Speaking of wife I ran into Rosemary, Gina's mother this past Thursday at a spa in Amalfi. I mentioned that you would be attending Emory's charity masquerade and bachelorette auction in two weeks; Rosemary said that Gina would just love for you to be her escort!"