The Makeover Read Free Page B

bathrobe from the hook behind the door, she walked out of her bathroom to
find her fiancé.  “I bet he’s making our room look really pretty, as long
as he’s been in there.” 
    Her stomach
fluttered as she neared the bedroom at the back of the railroad
apartment.  Her mind shifted into images of the time they had shared
together the previous night.  It had been the first time in several weeks
and her body vibrated with delicious thoughts of being intimate with him
again.  After the day she’d had, she was glad that this area of their
lives, at least, was getting back on track.
      Reaching
the bedroom door, she giggled before throwing it open.
    “Surprise,
Baby!  I’m home early!” Phoenix exclaimed, loud enough to be heard over
the music.  “Thanks for—”
    She stepped
into the room and froze.
    Cedric froze.
    And so did the
woman who was kneeling in front of him.
    “What? 
What? What?” Phoenix stuttered, blinking.  “What?! You? What? I—”
    “Phoenix!”
Cedric jumped up off the bed, knocking the woman onto her back on the
floor.  “Baby!  You’re home early!  I, uh, this is, uh—” He
yanked his pants up.
    The roaring in
Phoenix’s ears drowned out Cedric’s voice as she stared at the man she
loved.  Her eyes stayed glued to his as she remembered their
year-and-a-half together, scanning each series of memories for a hint that he
was cheating on her.  In a flash, she recalled the time they’d met, each
holiday and birthday they’d spent, each time they had made love, each time they
had socialized.  She recalled the day he had moved into the apartment a
year prior, after losing his job, and the day he proposed five months earlier,
while they had been on a cruise to the Bahamas she had treated him to for her birthday.  She recollected the day they had gone to pick out her ring that
she’d paid for.  She saw the past weekend when they had gone to the church
and their banquet hall to make final payments on the bills for the wedding that
was taking place in two months.  She reminisced about the night before
when they had enjoyed each other for hours with the lights on.  He
had really looked at her that time.
    She had felt
beautiful.
    Questions
screamed in her mind but her lips and tongue could not move to formulate them. 
    “Baby, I—”
Cedric’s hand trembled as he buckled up his belt.
    His voice was a
siren, alerting her of danger.  It was then that Phoenix understood.
    Her fiancé was
cheating on her in her own house.
    And even worse
than that, her fiancé had turned her life into a cliché.
    And that was unforgivable.
    She pounced on
him, tears blurring the images before her.  Her fists pounded his flesh
wherever they could connect with his tall, muscular frame. 
    “What are you
doing having sex with this woman in my house?” she screamed, biting,
scratching, pulling, and pounding. 
    Cedric tried in
vain to grab her arms. “Wait! Stop! Phoenix, please!”
    Phoenix
wrestled away, ran to the hallway closet to grab a bat, and rushed back into
the room, swinging in every possible direction.  She didn’t flinch when
she aimed for Cedric, who ducked, causing her to leave a huge crack in the
bedroom wall.  She swung the bat so hard again, that she twisted and fell
back onto the bed.
    “I will kill
you, you piece of—” Phoenix screamed as she reached for Cedric’s throat.
    The other
woman’s eyes were wide with horror as she scrambled to gather her
belongings.  Phoenix saw her trying to sneak out of the room.
    “Where are you
going?” Phoenix let go of Cedric, snatched her ceramic lamp from her night table,
and hurled it at the woman.  The lamp ricocheted against the wall before
exploding against the side of the woman’s head.  The woman screamed as she
fell to the ground.
    The wounded cry
was gasoline igniting the flame of Phoenix’s rage.  She jumped off the bed
and ran to the woman who was bleeding on the side of her face.  Phoenix
snatched her by her