Chapter 1
Nina Montgomery expertly maneuvered around the dining room, setting the table in an elegant, romantic tablescape design that included red roses in a clear vase that had red glass beads in it, and red votive candles which cast an intimate glow off the crystal clear champagne glasses and silver flatware. The delicious meal she had just prepared for Braxton was arranged on white Corelle dinnerware, which set atop red placemats and were accentuated with red silk napkins. She had been happily married to her husband for twenty-one years, as of today.
Nina and Braxton met in college at UCLA back in 1990 when Braxton was a junior and she was a freshman. It wasn’t exactly love at first sight for Nina. She preferred the laid back, nerdy, boy-next-door type of guy, and Braxton was exactly the opposite. A jock and a smooth talking ladies man, Nina initially found him repulsive and arrogant, although she couldn’t deny that he was incredibly handsome. His parents were wealthy- his father a successful defense attorney and his mother the daughter of an oil tycoon in Texas- and Braxton had grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth, never really knowing the value of hard work, as he was accustomed to having everything given to him with the snap of a finger. That included women.
It was a Thursday night when they met- finals week was almost over and there were several parties happening all over the campus. It was at a frat party on this night that Nina actually saw Braxton up close for the first time- he was doing body shots on a skinny blonde chick as a crowd of students stood around them, cheering him on. Nina thought it was gross and immature on both of their parts.
Throughout the night, Nina saw Braxton flirting with several girls at the party and labeled him as a player and she decided then and there that she wanted no parts of him or any of the guys at this party for that matter. She’d only gone to the party because her best friend, Selena had begged her to come because she was trying to hook up with one the guys at the party and she didn’t want to go alone.
Nina had just walked over to the refreshment table to get herself some punch when Braxton walked up beside her. “I wouldn’t drink that if I were you,” he said just as Nina brought the glass up to her lips to take a sip.
“Why not?” she asked as she peered into the glass trying to see what was wrong with the drink.
“A few of the guys spiked this punch with a couple of bottles of gin. A couple of sips of that and you’ll be on your back in no time and a sexy, drunk college girl around a bunch of rowdy, horny jocks…that wouldn’t be a good idea.”
She immediately set the glass back on the table and rolled her eyes.
Guys are so immature, she mumbled to herself. She’d had enough of this scene, she was leaving now, with or without Selena.
Nina walked away from him and headed across the room to where she‘d last seen her friend and roommate flirting with some guy. She pushed her way through the crowd of drunk and horny males and females, trying to locate Selena. Her eyes zeroed in on her- she was sitting on the lap of one of the guys on the football team, her tongue down his throat as he groped her ass and breasts.
Nina made her way over and tapped Selena on the shoulder, telling her that she was leaving. Selena waved her away and said she would be home later as she continued heavily making out with her companion.
Nina walked out into the cool night air. She really hated to walk alone at night- flyers had been posted all over campus warning women not to do so- but she couldn’t stand being at this party for another minute. Her clothes and hair reeked of cigarette smoke and she needed to study anyway for her last final in the morning.
She had just started up the sidewalk when she heard someone say, “Hey wait up!”
She turned around and noticed Braxton running to catch up to her.
“Where you going?”
“Home.”
“You really shouldn’t be walking alone at nighttime; lot’s of crazies around here.”
“How do I know that you’re not one of them?”
“Do I look crazy?” they stopped walking and faced each other.
“No…but most serial killers are quite handsome,” Nina said as she turned to continue walking. “I’ll be fine. I don’t need you to walk with me, I have pepper spray,” she said.
His presence was annoying her.
He laughed sarcastically as he fell into step beside her, “Oh well, that makes all the difference.”
“What do you want?” Nina wished he would leave her alone and go back to his stupid party.
“I just want to make sure you make it home safe, that‘s all.”
She peeked at him from the corner of her eye. She would be lying if she said he wasn’t fine as hell. He was tall, 6’2, lean, had smooth dark skin, and big feet…which supposedly meant he had a big package between his thighs.
Braxton was on the basketball team so he was extremely athletic and his biceps bulged underneath the sleeves of his t-shirt.
“What is it with guys and showing off their muscles,” she unintentionally said out loud.
“Excuse me?”
“It’s fifty degrees out here and you’re wearing a t-shirt. You’ll catch pneumonia.”
“Well thanks for caring mom,” Braxton said sarcastically, “But I’m not cold.”
Nina shrugged and they continued to walk towards her dorm, making small talk along the way.
Once she’d made it to her building, Nina thanked him for walking her home and was turning to leave when she felt him grab her by the waist. He pulled her into him and gently kissed her cherry lipgloss flavored lips.
Braxton was a good kisser and she kissed him back for a moment before coming to her senses and placing her hand on his broad chest, pushing him away. This was the same guy who had been licking alcohol off another girl’s body only minutes ago. He wasn’t about to make her another notch on his belt, so he could brag to his friends about it later.
She slapped him hard across the face, “You don’t know me like that. And I‘m not one of those girls who easily gives it up to you just because you show her a little attention.”
He laughed and rubbed his cheek, “Well now that we’ve gotten that out the way...”
He pushed her up against her door- trapping her between it and his body- and kissed her again, this time with more intensity while holding her hands above her head.
Nina didn’t know what to feel as his tongue danced around hers and the hardness between his thighs rubbed up against her. They moaned softly as they made out on the front steps. Nina didn’t bother putting up a front this time, pretending like she didn’t like it. She grabbed the back of his head as he sucked on her neck and rubbed her crotch.
“Invite me in,” he said pulling away and staring her in the eye.
Without hesitation she asked, “Do you wanna come in?”
She led him up to her dorm room and once inside, they shed their clothes as they kissed and moved over to her bed. Braxton’s hands and tongue explored every inch of Nina’s body. She almost had a heart attack when she felt him lower himself between her legs and start sucking on the inside of her thighs, before licking her already moist private parts. By the time Braxton put on a condom and entered her, she had already had an intense orgasm.
After lovemaking, they lay in bed talking and watching Midnight Love videos on B.E.T. for a few hours. Before he snuck out the next morning, they exchanged phone numbers, then giving her one last passionate kiss, he left.
Nina would have sworn the previous night had been a dream had it not been for the passion marks all over her neck, breasts, and the insides of her thighs.
She would have never thought that a guy like Braxton would be interested in a plain Jane like her. Although she was constantly told how pretty she was- for a big girl, with her caramel colored skin tone, long black hair, and big beautiful eyes- she had always been on the heavy side and no amount of dieting seemed to work for her. Nina was half-black, half-Puerto Rican and came from a family of large beautiful women so genetically, she was never meant to be a skinny girl. The last time she’d stepped on a scale she was at 185 pounds, although her size 40C breasts probably added to some of her weight. Luckily, she wasn’t particularly short or she’d resemble Humpty Dumpty, which would be all bad.
She knew Braxton could have any girl he wanted but for some reason he really seemed to be interested in her. They started dating soon after they slept together on the night of the frat party and when Braxton graduated a year later, she dropped out of college in her sophomore year and they got married after she found out she was pregnant.
She miscarried the baby early in the first trimester and didn’t have the desire nor energy to enroll back in school after that.
Braxton was studying to become a realtor at that time so Nina chose to be a stay at home wife- cooking and cleaning, helping him study, and anything else she could do to help him accomplish his dreams. If Braxton was happy, she was happy.
Eventually all of his hard work paid off. He passed the real estate exam and started Braxton Montgomery Realty Company. He got his big break when one of the first homes he managed to sell- a 1.5 million dollar home in the Hollywood Hills- was to that handsome young actor who used to be married to Demi Moore.
After that, Braxton told Nina she never had to work and that he would always take care of her because she had stood by his side while he was working so hard to earn his realtor license and they had been living a lavish life in LA ever since. Nina wore expensive, designer clothes, they lived in a beautiful mansion, and she drove a BMW. She never wanted for anything and in return all she was required to do was look good, have her husband a gourmet meal on the table every night-unless they went out for dinner- and keep him satisfied in bed. She’d never had a problem doing either and everyone she knew thought she lived the perfect life but this was all about to change.
***
Braxton walked into the dining room looking as sexy as ever in his designer suit and Gucci framed glasses.
Nina took one look at him and was instantly aroused. It was true what people said- some men got better looking as they got older- and the years had definitely been good to Braxton. She hoped that after they ate dinner they could make love, something they haven’t done in a long time. These days Braxton just didn’t seem to be interested in her at all and Nina was sure it had something to do with her weight, even though he’d never said it. He didn’t have to though- it was in the way he looked at her, with disgust. Most nights, Braxton acted as if he couldn’t stand the sight of his wife and she supposed she couldn’t blame him.
As a result of being a pampered housewife, Nina had a lot of free time on her hands. She spent a lot of time in the expensive kitchen that Braxton had built for her. It was complete with all the latest stainless steel appliances, black granite countertops, and cherry wood cabinets which all accentuated the huge island that set in the center of the room.
She absolutely loved her kitchen and spent most of her time in here, cooking and baking. Nina made sure that she had a hot meal on the table everyday when her husband got home, but for the last several weeks he’d opted to eat out at some fancy restaurant and would say he wasn‘t hungry when he came home from work, leaving her to eat all of the food she cooked by herself.
Over the years, Nina’s weight had skyrocketed from the 180 she’d been in college, to 280 and even though she was 5’8, she still looked frumpy no matter what she put on. Braxton had even called her Miss Piggy one night as she undressed for bed. He’d said he was joking but her feelings had still been hurt and rather than apologize and take back what he‘d said, he told her it wasn’t his fault that she’d gotten so fat. After that, he turned his back to her and went to sleep as she lay beside him, silently crying.
Nina had tried diets and going to the gym, but she just couldn’t seem to shed the weight, while Braxton still maintained the same athletic physique he’d had in college. He didn’t even really have to work out- he was just naturally fit- but he still went to the gym and kept his muscles defined. She’d gone with him one day about a month ago- dead set on shedding some pounds- but when she saw all the younger women flirting with her husband- and he was flirting back- she stopped going.
Because tonight was their anniversary, Nina was hoping for a romantic evening. She had bought some lingerie and she planned to rekindle the flame that had long since died out in their marriage. She’d even taken to watching porn so she could learn some new tricks that would help her blow Braxton’s mind in bed tonight. She couldn’t wait until dinner was over so they could get to the dessert-Braxton’s sexy bodied covered in whipped cream- that she couldn’t wait to lick off.
Nina uncovered the plate that set in front of her husband. She had made baked tilapia with garlic butter, stir fry green beans, and rosemary garlic potatoes- Braxton’s favorite. She poured Pinot Noir into his glass before taking her seat at the opposite end of the table. Her meal was far less appealing. Because she was on another one of her diets, she was only eating a garden salad with a Balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
Nina stabbed a tomato with her fork and lifted it to her mouth. Braxton seemed distracted and she didn’t know what to say at the moment. There was awkward silence between them, other than the sound of their forks scraping the dinner plates.
“I want a divorce,” Braxton said suddenly, dropping his fork on his barely touched plate of food.
Nina looked up, not sure she’d heard him correctly. “What did you just say?”
“I said I want a divorce,” he repeated.
That’s what she thought he’d said.
Nina put her fork back down as Braxton continued, “I’ve thought a lot about it and I just can’t do this anymore. I’ve gone over this in my head for months now, trying to think of the appropriate time to tell you this. I’m not happy Nina. I haven’t been attracted to you for years. I mean…look at you. You’ve let yourself go, our sex life is nonexistent. I know you’ve noticed that I haven’t touched you in a very long time.”
Nina tried hard not to cry but she couldn’t stop the tears from falling down her face. Through blurred vision, she watched tears drop into the soggy salad she had been about to eat a few minutes earlier. She took her napkin and dabbed at her eyes, but the tears kept falling.
“And there’s more…”
As if he hadn’t already gut punched her, he has more, she thought.
Braxton removed a manila folder from his briefcase which had been setting on the empty chair beside him and slid it down the table towards Nina.
She opened it and saw her husband in various photos, posing with a pretty black woman and a teenaged boy. Some of the pictures were when Braxton was in his late twenties and thirty’s and one looked to be more recent, when he’d turned 40 a few months ago. The boy in the pictures went from being a toddler to the handsome young man she was now staring at, but she literally stopped breathing when she recognized the woman in the pictures. It was Selena- her best friend from college. Nina looked up at her husband, confused.
“He’s our son Nina.” Braxton had just delivered the final blow…the kill shot.
“Your… son?”
“Yes, our son…Selena‘s and mine. He‘s 15.” Braxton took a deep breath and a sip of his wine before continuing, “We’ve been seeing each other for years now and we’re tired of sneaking around and hiding our family. We want to get married- our son deserves to have his parents live together, like a real family- but I have to divorce you first.”
Nina looked at him with a murderous look in her eyes. At that very moment, she suddenly identified with the women she watched every Sunday during the Snapped marathon- because she wanted to kill this man. For a brief moment, she had a vision of her jumping up, grabbing the butter knife, and stabbing him in the neck with it.
“I’ll take your ass for every dime you’ve got, you asshole,” she slammed the folder shut and threw it at him, purposely aiming at his head.
He ducked as the contents of the folder scattered all over the floor. “That won’t be necessary. I’ve already contacted my attorney and I’ve admitted my wrongdoing. I take full responsibility and I plan to provide you with a very generous amount in the divorce settlement. Also, you can keep the house- it’s already paid for- you just keep up the taxes on it. I’ll be moving into the new home I’ve had built for my family in Calabasas.”
Nina’s heart stopped when he’d said his family again, as if she had only been a roommate or something for the last twenty years.
I’m being punked right now, that’s it, Nina thought. When Braxton sold Ashton the house in the Hollywood Hills, they had gotten together and decided to pay a joke on me, even though Ashton stopped filming that show a while back. He and his crew probably thought it would be cute to play one last joke-only this shit ain’t funny, Nina thought to herself as she turned her glass up and drank all of the wine in one gulp.
Braxton stood and walked over to her, placed a check on the table, and turned to leave the room.
“I hope you’ll accept my apology, although I know you must hate me right now. I’ll just grab a few of my things and be on my way. Goodbye Nina!”
She continued to sit there- drinking glass after glass of wine- while waiting for Ashton and the camera crew to come running out of the living room with Braxton in tow at any minute yelling, “Gotcha!”
Nina realized it wasn’t a joke about 15 minutes later when the only thing she heard was the front door slam behind Braxton when he left the house- and her life- for good.
Masquerade Nina's Revenge can be bought on Paperback & Kindle on Amazon.com
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