"Much like life, you don't complete a puzzle by throwing away the pieces."
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

My hands were frozen on her hips. I was in utter shock. A situation like this happening to me was highly unlikely, but it was being perpetuated into my reality rather unexpectedly. Quite frankly, it was possibly a sign of where my head was for the last few days before going up to collect the overdue rent.

A couple of times, my Fiancee Lori had caught me checking out the Tennant who lived above us. I've had a few dealings with Michonne. Like the time she had tires removed from a twenty-two dollar a day Meryl's rental car and had them put on her car. Meryl was in a murderous mood and so was I when he came at Michone with a crowbar after she stabbed him with her pocket knife. Yeah...

Michonne made a lot of noise. Her vibrator was every other day. The amount of noise Michonne made would disturb Lori's need for sleep. The sporadic sounds were enough to send a message to me. Michonne would stomp, slam cabinets doors, or increase the volume of her television. It was a signal in the third and fourth months for me to GET UP because she was waiting. By the time I got back to my own apartment, Lori was usually fast asleep.

"What do you want now?" Michonne sighed at the sight of seeing me standing on the other side of her apartment door.

"Can you make up your mind? It is after 2 am. Why aren't you asleep?"

"Not tired." Michonne wore the look of a woman who had nothing but time to be an annoying nuisance.

"Well, my Fiancee is tired. She is trying to rest." I whispered in case anyone could hear our conversation in the hallways. "You are making things blatantly obvious by having me up here as often as I am, you know?"

"My problem, how?"

"Do you give my mother this amount of trouble?"

"Does your mother want to sleep with me?"

"My mother?"

"I sleep better with someone next to me. I haven't had someone next to me in a very long time. I have a vacancy. Would have to be gainfully employed. Not a felon. Attractive. And have big dick energy."

"Big dick energy?"

I watched her eyes travel down to my wayward member between my legs, slightly bulging from watching her lips move and listening to the words that spilled forth with abandon.

"I sense it is what leads you here, each and every time?"

"It is the noise you are making." I protested.

Her brown eyes were locked with mine. The open door and the threshold between her and I was the only line visible. Twice was it ever crossed, once to fix her leaky pipe, and the second time was to collect the rent.

"Damn, Baabbby."

Upon hearing and feeling her warm lips on my ear, I had suddenly encountered my own release that flooded the now used condom supplied by her. There wasn't any control I could muster. I had to allow the eventual silence to take over.

"Aaahhhahhhh."

Quietly she lifted herself off of me and went into her bathroom. I quickly slipped the condom off with no idea what to do with it, evidence of cheating on Lori would remain covered by paper towels buried deep in Michonne's kitchen trash can. I got dressed and took the eviction notice with me.

I had left. I went down to my apartment, where Lori was on the phone with our wedding planner. I was relieved she was distracted. I took a shower.

The second and third month was the same thing. I found myself accepting how Michonne wanted to pay the rent until it began to show a pattern to Lori of money, leaving our wedding savings account. I had to turn to Shane.

"What's going on?"

"I need a loan."

"Why?"

"I got myself into something."

"Like what?"

"Paying someone's rent," I admitted. I could trust Shane with any and everything.

"Whose rent?"

"Hers."

I had finally completed the academy. With strings pulled by Shane, we were partnered up. He was on the force much longer than me and had enough sway in the Sheriff's department.

Shane knew who I was talking about. We were sitting in the parking lot when Michonne was leaving in her older model Honda Accord with stolen tires.

"There are only three reasons a man would pay a woman's rent, you are either fucking her, you don't plan to stop fucking her, or you're trying to keep who you are fucking from telling Lori?"

"The last one," I admitted readily.

"It has to stop."

"I know. It has."

"It has?" Shane questioned after counting out the money before handing it over.

"It has not."

"You are so fucked."

"I am."