what you do in the dark…
a novel by Deborah Marbury
by
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"Right here?" "Right here." I could feel his presence in my space before he even touched me. My body was already heating up to his despicable proposal. He touched my face and my body responded. It turned into liquid butter running down the painted white brick walls of that basement as if it was a hot cob of corn. He kissed my neck and his lips felt soft, his breath was sweet. "What if somebody catches us?" "They won’t." "But they’re right upstairs." "Ssh." He kept kissing me and undressing me. It was exciting. What a great story it would make to tell Michelle. She always engaged in exciting, adventurous lovemaking. She told me about elevators, business offices, beaches and parks. I felt like Erica Kane in one of her love scenes, and the only words that came to my mind were the lyrics from that old song that said If loving you is wrong, I don’t wanna be right. "Ain’t nothin’ to it, but to do it." Michelle’s voice told me. "I need you Sweetheart. Just relax. It’ll be okay. It’ll be fun. No one will catch us." "You’re sure." "Positive." "I don’t know Robert." "I need you Sweetheart. I love you." Suddenly, I couldn’t remember any of my desperate requests to keep our child, any of his broken promises or any of the lonely nights I hoped he would call. He was with me now and he needed me. He loved me. His hands were everywhere, caressing me, waking up senses I didn’t even know were asleep. His lips were so close to my breasts that they perked up in anticipation. I didn’t care about anything he’d done in the past or any of the people upstairs. All I cared about was this man giving me more pleasure than I could stand without moaning over and over again until I felt his naked chest against mine. His shirt was in my mouth to muffle my moans and groans. I could hear him calling my name. "Caren! Caren! Where are you? Caren, are you down there?" "Yes! Yes!" I tried to respond through the shirt wedged in my mouth. Then, he started moving faster than I wanted him to. "Caren!" he called again. I wished he would stop calling me like that. He was ruining the mood. Suddenly, he shuddered and stopped. "Darnell is down here," he whispered. He got up quickly, grabbed his shirt from my mouth and ducked behind the washer. I picked up a dirty shirt from a laundry basket and wet it in the basement sink, letting the water run at just a trickle so Darnell couldn’t hear it. I cleaned myself up quickly, fixed my clothes and hair and then I unlocked the laundry room door. Darnell busted through. "What are you doing in here?" "Looking for the boxes your mother had stored for me." "Why’d you have the door locked?" "I guess I’ve just been down here thinking." "Thinking about what Red?" He said pulling me close to him. "Me, I hope. You need to take care of your man. It’s been a long time." I felt squeamish. I wasn’t sure if Darnell noticed the smell of Robert’s cologne or the scent of our sex. Instinctively, I stepped away from his intended embrace, trembling. "What’s the matter Red?" "I really like this washer." I turned to inspect it more closely. I played with the buttons. "Can we get one like this when we get married?" "Whatever you want Red. Now come here. I’ve missed you." He tried to kiss me on the neck. "Why are you shaking?" "It’s cold down here." "I can warm you up," he said trying to kiss my neck again. "Stop Darnell. I’m not in the mood."
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About the Book
Caren is thirty-five years old, fifty pounds overweight, and still single. Ten years earlier, she was stacked like a brick house, an up-and-coming reporter for one of Ohio’s most successful African American newspapers, and engaged to marry her high school sweetheart, but one sweet November night changed all that. She gets involved with one of Cleveland’s most eligible bachelors, Councilman Robert Turner, when she is assigned to cover his plans to start a community center in the neighborhood where she was raised. When she discovers that she is pregnant with his child, they decide to abort the child in an effort to hide their affair. However, when Robert decides to run for an Ohio State Senate seat, there’s someone who suspects they have a secret and is determined to expose Councilman Turner’s stand on abortion to the media by uncovering the details of the affair and the abortion. Thus, Caren’s future with her fiancé and her reputation with her God-fearing mother are severely threatened. This flashback narrative details a year in Caren’s life that reveals how what she did in the dark came to the light and changed her life.
About the Author
Deborah
Marbury, born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, is a child of God, mother,
teacher, playwright as well as a first-time novelist. She is a member of Mt.
Olive Missionary Baptist Church. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in
English and a Master of Education degree in adult learning from Cleveland State
University. She teaches English for the Cleveland Municipal Schools. She lives
on the east side of Cleveland with her son, Calvin Kelly (a.k.a. CK), who
graduates from Benedictine High School in June 2002. He plays football,
basketball, and runs track.
She plans to take What You Do In The Dark . . . to the stage in the fall of 2003. Her first stage production, Diary of Black Women at the University of Anywhere: How Do You Love a Black Man? was produced and performed in 1989 at Cleveland State University. She also plans to write a novel every other year and adapt each one for the stage. Caren is a character Ms. Marbury would like to stay with for a while. She desires to develop the character into an amateur sleuth for a mystery series that will start with the solving of the murder that occurs in What You Do In The Dark . . . Although this first effort is not a mystery, Ms. Marbury is hoping to make the mystery genre her writing home starting with Dark’s sequel in progress, Am I My Brother’s Keeper?