Something More Read online

  SOMETHING MORE

  Leigh Beckford

  SOMETHING MORE

  Copyright © 2010 by Leigh Beckford

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  www.anewnov.com

  (646)450-2638

  ISBN-13: 978-1-451-50308-1

  ISBN-10: 1-451-50308-3

  Printed in the United States of America

  DEDICATION

  I would like to dedicate this book to my family, especially Audrey, without whom I would not be possible. To Kanwal, my great collaborator and tremendous support, to Nbigta whose passionate input goes duly noted, and Kirk, we have come a long way from making circles.

  CONTENTS

  Prolog …………………………………….iii

  Chapter 1………………………..…………1

  Chapter 2…………………………………11

  Chapter 3…………………………………17

  Chapter 4…………………………………29

  Chapter 5………………...……………….41

  Chapter 6…………………………………53

  Chapter 7………………...……………….59

  Chapter 8…………………...…………….69

  Chapter 9………………...……………….75

  Chapter 10…………………..……………81

  Chapter 11………………..………………89

  Chapter 12………………….…………….93

  Chapter 13………………...…………….101

  Chapter 14……………...……………….109

  Chapter 15.........................................…...115

  Chapter 16……………...……………….119

  Chapter 17………………………………129

  Chapter 18……………...……………….135

  Chapter 19………………………………141

  Chapter 20.........................................…...149

  Chapter 21………………………...…….153

  Chapter 22 ……………………….……… 159

  Chapter 23…………………….…………..165

  Chapter 24………………………..……….173

  Chapter 25…………………...……………179

  Chapter 26……………………….………..185

  Chapter 27…………………...……………191

  Chapter 28……………………...…………197

  Chapter 29…………………..…………….203

  Chapter 30…………………...……………213

  Chapter 31…………..…………………….217

  Chapter 32………………………..……….225

  Chapter 33……………………...…………233

  Chapter 34……………………….………..241

  Chapter 35……………………….………..253

  Chapter 36………….…………….……….259

  Chapter 37………………….……………..269

  Chapter 38……………………..………….275

  PROLOGUE

  On the wonderful isle of Manhattan, in its skyscraping glory, at this very minute there are nocturnal encounters taking place. Their characteristics may differ by the level of sobriety and or the grandness of the monetary exchange. Nonetheless, the proverbial late night booty-calls or after-party hook-ups do take place to serve the needs of those who find themselves in dire straits for a carnal fix. Both individuals here are very familiar with this ritual and the benefits to be had, however for Valde (pronounced val-day) and Brittany their early morning tête-à-tête though passionate is of a more innocent nature.

  Being the best of friends, who share similar proclivities and personalities, late night barge-ins came with the package so it is no big surprise Brittany decides to show- up at Valde's apartment in the wee hours of the morning. Furthermore even though they will never openly admit it, at one point they managed to pull off being lovers.

  Their tryst, which lasted a little over two months, was as unbridled as one that was deeply shrouded in secrecy could be. Doomed not to last beyond the length of a standard summer romance, they jumped through hoops and performed amusing feats to keep their relationship secret from Alex. He is the third of their little trio and Brittany’s oldest sibling. Still, even during those two months of late night canoodling in cozy cafes, their meetings had a certain purity and meaningfulness. Brittany still believes Valde to be the one, and often jokes with him in private about it; he occasionally thinks the same of her. Still he always dismisses the notion by reminding her that it is her goal to not believe in anything. On cue she never fails to rebut him with the endearing nickname that she has picked out for him, ‘Asshole’.

  Above all else Brittany deems Valde to be a kind of protector for her who watches over her in ways that her brother can't, not that she can't take care of herself!

  Chapter 1

  “Damn! Don't you sleep?” Valde asks as he reaches for his cell phone. This is her eighth or ninth call within what seems like hours as he doses in and out of sleep. However the actual timeline is no more than some thirty to forty minutes and as the intervals between each call lessens, the harder it becomes for him to further ignore her. If the truth be told until recently he too would have been up and out at this same time anyway. Perhaps at his usual watering-hole in the East Village, or chatting up a campaign-less model cum waitress at some nightclub in the trendy Meatpacking District. This being said, ordinarily he wouldn't have minded a call from her at any hour, even this godforsaken 3:52 a.m. However this is his first taste of REM sleep since last Wednesday and it is delicious. He had forgotten how satisfying actually sleeping in his own bed feels. The smell of his own sheets, now tainted by the scent of the girl who was earlier sharing his bed, still the recently from the laundry freshness is to be relished. Wishing his night could continue uninterrupted with him being snugly wrapped up in his sheets he was determined to try. Her calls continue. Knowing all too well that such a wish is at this point useless, with his best attempt at masking his grogginess and serious sleep depravity, he finally answers her call. “Hey you, do you mind calling me back when the rest of the city is up. I am trying to sleep?” He immediately hangs up the phone denying her the chance to respond.

  Relentless, she rings him again, totally ignoring the full blown brush-off, “Hi Val. Darling, were you sleeping? In the name of all things fun can you tell me what are you doing sleeping? “ reciprocating his previous lack of manners, it was now her turn to not have him get a word in as she continues, “For your information, just in case you forgot, you are a New Yorker in the city that never sleeps, so get your butt up and out of bed. I need to talk to you. It is kind of important.” Before hanging up, she gently insists, “I am coming over?”

  Still half asleep he barely notices that she has already hung up as he replies, “Sure Brittany, see you in a bit.”

  His ringer goes off again, startled he jumps up mumbling pure incoherence into the phone only to hear her giggle, “You are so cute. I don’t understand a word of what you just said so I am going to interpret it to mean that you love me. Have I told you how much I love you too?”

  “Yes, every time you need me, which is pretty much all the damn time. However that wasn’t quite what I was saying before.”

  “Oh, baby?”

  “Yes?”

  “Can you please do o
ne more thing?”

  “What is it my love?”

  “Can you be a dear and let me in? I'm at the door.”

  “You are where?” Baseline annoyed he asks, “Tell me how did you know that I would be home?”

  “I wondered what you were up to tonight and I figured out that you were staying in so I thought that I would come and join you.”

  “Wow, you figured out all this by yourself, how astute of you? Did you at any point during your ponderings consider that I might be entertaining company? Now I have to drag my naked behind out of bed. Damn!”

  “Well, if my memory serves me correct by now you would have hurried the poor girl off so that you can get your beauty nap.”

  “How right you are,” he agrees, “You may pat yourself on the back for that. Girl, why are you fidgeting like a flea ridden mutt? Just hold on a bit and I will let you in.”

  “Valde, do you mind if I ask what the hold-up is? There is absolutely no reason for you to get decent for little ole me. I am very sure that there are no parts to you that I have not yet seen.”

  “Look at you.” he says staring at her adoringly over his security monitor, “Did the doorman really let you into this building looking like that? You look like the most adorable road-kill if there was ever such a thing. At the next co-op meeting I am going to have to complain about security letting in strays off the street.”

  “Whatever asshole,” she snaps back, “You sure know how to make a girl feel beautiful. Now that you have damn well had your fill of staring at me, will you please let me in?”

  “That mouth of yours'”, he says to her.

  Biting her lips and twirling a lock of her hair she asks, “What about my mouth?” He doesn’t respond as she continues her little tease, “Valde baby, don’t you like my mouth anymore? You never complained before, you used to think it was such fun secondary only to my…”

  “Brittany,” he interjects, “I know that you’re not seriously trying to seduce me so knock it off and come on in.” As he unlocks the door he adds, “Besides, the pleasure you speak of seems like another lifetime ago. Left up to you I would be more backed up than a clogged faucet. However since you brought it up, how about you giving your old friend here a refresher for old time’s sake? You know I am always up for it and I do mean that literally. What say you babe?”

  She enters with a touch of her usual flare kissing him on his cheeks then saying, “Thanks for letting me in Valde, however I did not come over here to have sex with you. I really do appreciate you getting up for me and despite what you are thinking right now I am not totally unconscionable. I am aware of how early it is”.

  “No no, correction my dear, that is where you have it wrong, it is actually quite late,” he spirit-fully admonishes. Knowing that it will annoy her, he spreads his arms out then clasps her in a bear hug.

  “Will you cut it out and be serious?” she demands as her sight again sets on his waist, “And for Christ’s sake, can you please put some clothes on?”

  “What‘s up with the bipolar behavior and I thought you were now agnostic?” he asks with one arm folded around his stomach, the other on his chin with one eyebrow raised above the other in a rather comedic manner. Wearing nothing but his bed sheet hurriedly wrapped to form an oddly shaped loincloth with a massive train he asks, “What? Don't you appreciate my new found knack for making Toga wear? I am thinking maybe I should start a men's line. Maybe, you could call in a few favors and get it sold in one of your fancy stores. Guess what I would call it?”

  “I see you refuse to be serious at four in the morning,” her voice strains, “I am beginning to think I came to the wrong place.”

  “Wow! You concerned about the time? No you're not. In fact this is why you are here, because you love my humor or lack of it. Speaking of four in the morning, why the hell are you here and what was so blasted important that it couldn't wait until lunch?”

  “The son-of -a-bitch is married!” she bellows.

  “Really that's it?” Valde responds with a smirk on his face, “That’s why you woke me up so damn early for something as trivial as you having a very public affair with a very married man. That’s it! Gosh, I am going back to bed. I am feeling to revoke your access because this doesn’t warrant an emergency wake up call.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means I believe that you got off rather easy my dear.”

  “Did I really? Having my heart broken is your idea of me getting off easily? Do you care to explain further asshole?”

  “Come on baby, you have to admit that there is always something dysfunctional about your relationships. How long did this one last, one maybe two months?” he asks alighting from the refrigerator with a bucket of ice-cream. “Besides my dear, did you truly want to suffer the monotonous doldrums of being in a serious monogamous relationship much longer? Surely you did not!”

  “No, I mean, yes I do you insensitive dick,” with her eyes growing increasingly moist she stutters, “Th, th, three months is what we lasted. Also for your information my relationship with Phillip was neither boring nor stagnant. Each day was an adventure. He was strong, smart, and supportive. He helped me discover so many things about myself. I just had a reminder of what living the fast and single life is like with some random guy that I met a couple hours ago. Believe me when I say sleeping with total strangers isn’t quite what it used to be.”

  “First let me respond by saying that when it comes to sleeping with total strangers, speak for yourself. There are few other things one can do in this city that‘s as thrilling as no strings attached ‘wham bam thank you ma’am’ loving. Damn just saying that gives me a rush. Secondly, did you say that you guys lasted three months! Is that a new record for you? Hey, look at it this way my little adventurer who, like Emilia Earhart, just can’t seem to make it to your destination,” he hands her a spoon, “things could have been a lot worse, you could have been his poor unknowing wife. Imagine how screwed up her marriage truly is. The fact remains that he was merely toying with you but he was cheating on her. The way I look at it is you got the better deal. You get to walk away from the bastard no real strings attached while knowing him for what he truly is. Who knows, his wife probably still view the scumbag as the most wonderful person alive. We both know that he isn’t.”

  “You funny excuse for a best friend,” she smiles wiping the tear from her left cheek,” I could strangle you.”

  “Brit, you know that's unfair displacement, I'm not the one with the wife and god knows how many kids”, he jeers, “Go find Phillip and strangle him. That would make quite an ending to your little adventure.”

  “Asshole!”

  “To whom do you refer, the married bastard you were ready to spend the rest of your life with or the guy who you just had mess up your hair and apparently your little black dress leaving you stained running over here to see me.” He jibes, “For I know in this instance you certainly can’t be referring to me.”

  “I am sorry,” she apologizes, “I don’t mean to be taking out my anger and frustration on you.”

  “Baby, come to poppa,” his arms beckon her close,” Everything will be alright. In the morning we go do something that will cheer you up, but right now my love, are you gonna dig into this with me or no?”

  “What flavor is it?”

  “Rum and raisin, you know it’s your favorite,” he says each word slowly placing extra emphasis on the word rum.

  “Are you gonna skip work and take me shopping?” she asks him with soft puppy-like eyes.

  “If that's what the doctor orders sure, a few doses of Neiman and Saks should help you feel better. Hey we can even throw in some Bergdorf to make one hell of a potent cocktail.”

  “Sounds like my kind of party,” she answers excitedly.

  “Well it is going to be, after all, you are the guest of honor.”

  Twenty-two minutes later he reminds her that it is late and they should get some rest. Moments later the silence is disrupt
ed.

  “Hey don't hog the sheets... Stop kicking me... Now who is acting childish?” he rants.

  “‘OK OK, I am sorry, will you please relax? There, take the damn sheet,” she giggles, “Night Val. Baby, I love you.”

  “I love you back, now go to sleep!”

  9:55 am.

  “Wake up girl,” shouts an exuberant Valde, “Get your pretty ass up!”

  As if his shouting at the top of his lungs wasn’t enough, Brittany was also the target of multiple rapid torpedo-like hits from a sweaty towel. She opens her eyes, vision slightly blurred; there is the figure of her friend smiling and holding a towel around his neck. This moment is reminiscent of when they were together. Her eyes having adjusted to the light in the room, she no longer squints as she looks at him.

  He is standing there, his almond toned skin wonderfully draping what weren’t greatly bulging but ideally perfect muscles. She isn’t surprised by how well he maintains his form as she recalls the numerous times he stated that his body is the temple of God. While looking at him she becomes flushed as she remembers what it was like worshipping at his temple. Regaining her wits she playfully throws a pillow at him and asks, “So you think I got a pretty ass, huh?”

  “Well, do you even have to ask?” he asks now grinning, “We should get going so I’m gonna jump in the shower.”

  “Yes, you go do that,” she throws another pillow at him, “I can smell your stinky ass from over here.”

  “Hey, I got coffee and green tea brewing in the kitchen. Oh yeah there's also juice so go ahead and help yourself to whatever you like.”

  “You act so much like my Mom sometimes.”

  “That‘s such utter bullshit!” he bursts out laughing. “Your Mom doesn't even know how to boil water.”

  “Asshole!” she starts laughing, “As truthful as that statement is you can’t talk about my Mom like that, or anyone’s mom for that matter, you’re just so rude. Ugh!”