The Eleventh Commandment Read Online Free Page B

suite at all of the major venues. Tony playing in that beautiful new stadium might even make me come out and watch a game!”
    â€œI know, right? So far I’ve gotten along with the wives well enough, but it would be hella fun to hang out with you and Frieda, especially if the Sea Lions follow everyone’s prediction and make it to the Super Bowl. Tony even joked about Darius singing the “Star-Spangled Banner,” if LA ended up in the top two spots.”
    â€œCan you believe it, Stacy? How much all of our lives have changed, and how blessed we are? There was a time when I couldn’t have imagined you and your son’s father being able to hold a civil conversation, let alone becoming friends.”
    â€œTell me about it. Not to mention that I’m also friends with his husband . He’s even teaching me how to cook, passing down his Aunt Gladean’s guarded recipes.”
    â€œGurlll . . . how is Bo?”
    Bo Jenkins was the legal partner (translated, husband) of America’s R & B darling and Stacy’s ex, Darius Crenshaw. “As crazy as always. Running behind Darius and swatting away fans, groupies, and wannabe lovers the way that a cow’s tail swats away flies.”
    â€œYou’ve got to give it to them. They’ve been together what, six, seven years now?”
    â€œTogether for eight, married for four,” Stacy corrected. “Longer than some heterosexual marriages last.”
    â€œShoot, I might need to hang out with Bo myself, ask him what his secret is to their long-wedded bliss.”
    â€œWhy? Is the bliss starting to wear off at your house?”
    â€œNot hardly, darling. Cy and I are happier than ever; I fall more and more in love with him every day.”
    Â 
    In the perfectly appointed premiere Central-Park-view suite of New York’s Mandarin Oriental, Cy sat at a small table, next to floor-to-ceiling windows offering views of the Manhattan skyline, whose bright lights had just begun to twinkle against dusk’s tranquil blue sky. It was a stunning sight, but even as Cy gazed upon it, he didn’t really take it in. No, his mind was filled with a variety of thoughts and emotions, all dredged up because of the e-mail that he’d just read. Standing, he walked over to the counter and placed the iPad on it. After pouring himself a glass of cabernet, he read the note again:

    Dear Cy: Hello, stranger. It’s Trisha Underwood, or Tricky as you called me back in the day. If this note reaches you, I can only imagine what you’ll think, especially since at one time I had planned to never speak to you again. Life is funny, huh? Which is probably why the adage “never say never” was coined. As I sit here looking at the invitation for our class’s fifteenth-year reunion, I’m reminded of what once was, and wondering how you are. I hope this e-mail reaches you, and that you answer. If so, I hope that we can communicate. I trust that life has treated you well, and I would love to catch up.
    Until then, Cyclone . . .
    Tricky

    To say that Cy was surprised would be an understatement. He was floored. For years, he’d thought about Tricky, had looked for her and inquired of her whereabouts. Her sorors had been tight lipped, understandably so considering what had happened to break them up: the one and only time in their relationship that he’d been unfaithful. At that time, Cy had been sure that Trisha Underwood would become his wife and the mother of his children. They’d spoken of spending a lifetime together, had shared dreams and goals, met each other’s families, and before that crazy night when a woman who’d long envied Trisha’s seemingly effortlessly successful life duped Cy into her bed, he’d been very close to buying a ring. He’d hated that other woman for a long time, had temporarily entertained the idea of swift retribution. But at the end of the day, no one had put a gun to his